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THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM 

EVIDENCES  OF  A  RUDE  INDUSTRY  ANTh 
DATING  THE  PALEOLITHIC 


GEORGE  GRANT  MACCURDY 


Reprinted  from  the  American  Anthropologist  (n.  s.  ),  Vol.  7,  No.  3, 
July-September,  1905 


Lancaster,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A. 

The  New  Era  Printing  Company 

1905 


c> 


^^' 


^ 


V 


To  tJie  memory  of 

Professor  Edward  Elbridge  Salisbury 

and  to 

Mrs   Evelyn  Mac  Curdy  Salisbury 


156230 


UNIVERSITY 

OF 

THE  EOLITHIC   PROBLEM  ^EVIDENCES  OF  A  RUDE 
INDUSTRY    ANTEDATING    THE    PALEOLITHIC 

By    GEORGE    GRANT    MACCURDY 

Introduction 

Nature's  processes  may  be  likened  to  photography.  She  fur- 
nishes the  sensitized  film,  and  the  finger  of  Time  manipulates  the 
camera.  It  remains  for  man  to  develop  and  interpret  the  exposures. 
The  geological  record  is  a  film  cartridge  exposed  and  sealed  again, 
bound  up  with  which  are  the  beginnings  of  man's  own  record  on  the 
earth.  The  process  of  development  begins  with  the  most  recent 
exposure  and  works  backward. 

For  a  long  time  we  had  a  picture  of  man's  neolithic  record  only. 
In  the  early  part  of  the  last  century,  Boucher  de  Perthes,  with  the 
help  of  Sir  Joseph  Prestwich  and  others,  clipped  off  another  section 
of  the  film,  which  when  developed  revealed  the  long  chapter  of  our 
paleolithic  histoiy.  It  took  a  good  while  for  some  of  us  to  accept 
the  interpretation  put  upon  that  picture.  When  finally  and  gener- 
ally accepted,  there  was  in  many  quarters  a  feeling  of  relief  that  we 
had  at  last  reached  the  end,  or  rather  the  beginning,  of  the  series 
of  Father  Time's  snapshots  at  our  primitive  ancestors.  Neverthe- 
less, to  some  persistent  investigators  it  seemed  worth  while  to  take 
another  pull  at  this  enigmatical  film.  They  appear  to  have  been 
rewarded  by  a  bona  fide  negative  ;  but,  to  say  the  least,  there  is  a 
certain  superficial  indistinctness  about  it  that  has  rendered  the  print 
rather  unsatisfactory  to  some  minds.  Recently  the  negative  has 
been  so  strengthened  that  we  are  now  practically  assured  of  a  pic- 
ture worthy  of  a  frame,  and  a  place  on  the  walls  of  our  prehistoric 
gallery. 

AM.   ANTH.,  N.   S.,  ^ — 29  4^5 


426  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [x.  s.,  7,  1905 

In  the  order,  then,  of  their  taking,  these  three  views  may  be 
labeled:  (i)  Eolithic,  (2)  PaleoUthic,  and  (3)  Neolithic.  Sir  John 
Lubbock,  now  Lord  Avebury,  furnished  the  names  for  the  second 
and  third.  The  first  was  christened  as  late  as  1892  by  another 
Englishman,  Mr  J.  Allen  Brown, ^  fellow  of  the  Geological  Society, 
and  an  enthusiastic  student  of  the  prehistoric.  Two  years  later 
de  Mortillet  made  use  of  the  term  "eolithic"  for  the  first  time 
by  him,  in  his  Classification  paletJmologigiic,-  but  did  not  refer  to 
J.  Allen  Brown's  article.  The  latter,  in  discussing  the  rude  speci- 
mens found  on  the  North  Downs  by  Mr  Benjamin  Harrison,  sug- 
gested that  the  term  "eolithic"  be  applied  to  the  "roughly  hewn 
pebbles  and  nodules  and  naturally  broken  stones  showing  work,  with 
thicks  ochreous  patina,  found  on  the  plateaux  of  chalk  and  other-dis- 
tricts in  beds  unconnected  with  the  present  valley  drainage."  The 
de  Mortillet  classification  was  republished  in  1900.^  Leaving  the 
paleolithic  to  represent  the  early  Quaternary,  he  applied  the  term 
eolithic  to  all  that  has  to  do  with  the  Tertiary.  Dr  Rutot  of  Brus- 
sels, to  whom  we  are  indebted  more  than  to  any  one  else  for  our 
knowledge  of  the  eolithic  period,  and  whose  work  will  be  discussed 
at  length  in  this  paper,  does  not  limit  it  chronologically  to  the 
Tertiary.  In  his  classification,^  the  early  phases  of  the  Quaternary, 
those  connected  with  the  first  grand  extension  of  the  glaciers,  are 
also  eolithic,  the  well-known  hache  type  (Chellean)  of  implement 
not  appearing  until  the  second  advance  of  the  ice. 

When  Thomsen  published  his  relative  chronology  for  prehis- 
toric times  in  1836,  the  only  stone  age  known  was  that  which  is 
now  called  the  neolithic  period.  Boucher  de  Perthes's  first  discov- 
ery of  paleoliths  came  just  two  years  later;  but  they  were  not 
accepted  until  after  (Sir)  Joseph  Prestwich's  visit  to  Abbeville  in 
1859.  EoHths  have  had  a  still  longer  and  harder  struggle  for 
recognition.  When  first  reported  in  1867,  they  at  once  attracted 
considerable  attention.      After  a  lively   discussion   that   lasted   for 

1  On  the  continuity  of  the  paleohthic  and  neolithic  periods;  Jour.  Authr.  Inst., 
March  8,  1892  ;  xxii,  pp.  93-94.    Brown  died  Sept.  24,  1903. 

''■Bull.  Soc.  d'aitthr.  de  Paris,  1894,  p.  616. 

^  Le  prehistoriqtie,  3®  ed. 

*L'etat  actuel  de  la  question  de  I'antiquite  de  rhomme  ;  Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geol.,  de 
paleon.  et  d'hydrol.,  Bruxelles,  1903,  xvn,  p.  425. 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  427 

five  or  six  years,  the  subject  was  relegated  to  the  background.  It 
might  have  passed  into  obhvion  had  it  not  been  for  the  researches 
of  Sir  Joseph  Prestwich  in  England,  begun  about  fifteen  years  ago, 
and  for  the  more  recent  work  of  Rutot  in  Belgium.  Some  of  the 
details  in  its  eventful  history  are  worthy  of  record  here. 

Early  Discoveries 

The  discovery  in  Pliocene  deposits  of  incised  bones  first  served 
to  aw'aken  an  interest  in  the  question  of  Tertiary  man,  and  led  more 
or  less  directly  to  the  later  discovery  of  flints  thought  to  have  been 
chipped  intentionally.  In  fact,  Sir  Charles  Lyell  would  not  formulate 
an  opinion  as  to  the  nature  of  the  incisions  on  bone  found  by  Des- 
noyers  ^  in  the  sand  and  gravel -pit  of  Saint-Prest,  near  Chartres, 
because  the  deposits  had  yielded  no  stone  implements.  But  not 
long  after  (1867),  the  Abbe  Bourgeois  found  in  the  same  deposits 
what  he  considered  to  be  stone  implements.  These  were  obtained 
at  various  depths  in  the  high-level  gravels  (Pliocene)  at  Saint-Prest 
and  did  not  include  the  amygdaloid  (Chellean)  type  generally  sup- 
posed at  that  time  to  represent  the  earliest  industry  in  stone.  The 
associated  fauna  consisted  of:  Elephas  meridionalis,  Rhinoceros 
etruscus  (Falconer),  Hippopotamus  major  (?),  Equus  arnensis,  Tro- 
gontherium  cuvieri,  three  species  of  Cervus  and  one  of  Bos. 

The  Abbe  Bourgeois's  researches  were  soon  extended  to  the 
Miocene  at  Thenay,  and  formed  the  subject  of  important  communi- 
cations to  the  International  Anthropological  Congresses  of  1 867  and 
1872.  At  the  latter,  held  in  Brussels,  a  committee  of  fifteen  was 
appointed  to  report  on  the  chipped  flints  from  Thenay,  submitted  by 
Bourgeois.  Nine  of  the  Committee — de  Quatrefages,  d'Omalius, 
Cartailhac,  Capellini,  Worsaae,  Valdemar  Schmidt,  de  Vibraye, 
Franks,  and  Engelhardt  —  pronounced  in  favor  of  certain  speci- 
mens ;  five  —  Steenstrup,  Virchow,  Neyrinckx,  Fraas,  and  Desor  — 
found  no  evidence  of  intentional  shaping;  and  one  —  Van  Beneden 
—  was  unable  to  decide.  De  Mortillet  remained  to  the  last  a 
champion  of  the  Thenay  specimens,  some  of  which  are  preserved 
in  the  Musee  des  Antiquites  Nationales  at  Saint-Germain.     On  the 

1  Note  sur  des  indices  materials  de  la  coexistence  de  I'homme  avec  I'Elephas  meri- 
dionalis, etc.  ;   C.-R.  Acad,  des  sciences,  Paris,  1S63,  p.  1073. 


428  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

Other  hand,  researches  made  by  Professors  Capitan  and  Mahoudeau 
in  1 90 1  have  led  them  to  combat  the  existence  of  artifacts  in  the 
deposit  at  Thenay.  Rutot  withholds  judgment  until  further  evi- 
dence is  forthcoming.  At  the  Brussels  Congress  (1872),  Carlos 
Ribeiro  presented  a  paper  on  chipped  flints  from  the  Upper  Miocene 
and  the  Pliocene  deposits  near  Lisbon,  Portugal.  Later,  one  of  his 
compatriots,  Delgado,  discovered  similar  specimens  in  the  Upper 
Miocene  at  Otta.  But  the  consensus  of  opinion  is  that  the  pieces 
from  the  valley  of  the  Tagus  and  from  Otta  are  not  artifacts. 

A  better  fate  has  been  reserved  for  the  discovery  by  J.  B. 
Rames,  in  1877,  of  chipped  flints  in  the  Tertiary  at  Puy-Courny  ^ 
near  Aurillac  (Cantal).  The  beds  resting  on  -Miocene  basalt  are 
alluvial,  and  belong  to  the  Upper  Miocene.  They  contain  the  fol- 
lowing fossils,  as  determined  by  Gaudry  :  Dinotherium  giganteum, 
]\Iastodon  (angustidens  or  longi-nostris).  Rhinoceros  schleier- 
macheri,  Hipparion  gracile,  Tragoceros,  and  Gazella  deperdita. 
All  the  flints  possess  a  brilliant  black  or  dark  yellow  patina.  The 
retouches  and  marks  of  utilization  are  most  convincing.  After  a 
careful  study  of  the  pieces,  de  Mortillet,  Cartailhac,  Chantre,  and 
CapelHni  declared  that  if  these  flints  had  been  found  in  Quaternary 
deposits,  no  one  would  hesitate  to  regard  them  as  having  been 
chipped  intentionally.  De  Quatrefages  was  of  the  same  opinion, 
fresh  confirmation  of  which  is  being  received  through  the  recent 
researches  of  Capitan,  Rutot,  Courty,  and  others.  Until  the  ques- 
tion of  the  Thenay  specimens  is  settled,  those  from  Puy-Courny 
may  be  regarded  as  the  oldest  known  artifacts,  geologists  being 
agreed  as  to  the  age  (Upper  Miocene)  of  the  deposit,  and  arche- 
ologists  as  to  the  genuineness  of  the  industry. 

The  Chalk  Plateau 
A  tradesman  01  Ightham,  Kent,  Mr  Benjamin  Harrison,  an 
enthusiastic  naturalist  who  had  been  collecting  paleoliths  from  the 
River  drift  of  the  neighborhood  for  years,  extended  his  field  of 
search  in  1885  to  include  the  summit  of  that  portion  of  the  Chalk 
plateau  which  lies  between  the  valley  of  the  Darent  on  the  west  and 

1  Two  other  stations  in  the  neighborhood  of  Puy-Courny,  but  of  less  importance,  are 
Belbex  and  Puy-Boudieu. 


MACCURUY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  429 

that  of  the  Medway  on  the  cast.  Here,  at  heights  of  from  400  to 
600  feet  above  the  sea,  he  discovered  flints  supposed  to  have  been 
fashioned  by  the  hand  of  man. 

In  the  next  six  years  Harrison  brought  together  a  collection 
numbering  more  than  1,000  specimens.  In  the  meantime  (1888) 
his  researches  attracted  the  attention  of  Sir  Joseph  Prestwich,  whose 
country-seat  was  at  Shoreham  in  the  Darent  valley  near  by.  Thirty 
years  earlier,  Prestwich  had  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  Boucher  de 
Perthes' s  discoveries  in  the  valley  of  the  Somme.  He  had  now 
found  a  second  Boucher  de  Perthes  nearer  home.  Harrison's  dis- 
coveries, however,  did  not  have  to  do  with  paleoliths,  but  with  the 
industry  of  a  much  earlier  date.  Here  the  geological  conditions 
are  entirely  different.  Harrison  left  the  paleoliths  and  the  Quater- 
naiy  behind  when  he  ascended  to  the  North  Downs.  The  speci- 
mens he  found  there  are  uniformly  and  deeply  stained  to  a  warm, 
ocherous  brown  color,  precisely  as  are  the  natural  flint  fragments 
associated  with  them,  the  coloring  matter  being  the  red  clay  in 
which  they  are  imbedded,  and  which  is  found  in  patches  capping 
the  summits  of  the  Chalk  plateau.  Associated  with  this  red  clay 
is  a  southern  drift,  carried  there  from  the  still  higher  elevations  to 
the  south,  at  a  time  when  the  chalk  bridged  the  present  fertile 
valleys  of  the  Weald  (woodland),  connecting  the  North  Downs  of 
Kent  with  the  South  Downs  of  Sussex. 

According  to  Prof  Rupert  Jones,  the  implements  are  always 
accompanied  with  chert  and  ragstone  from  the  outcrop  of  Lower 
Greensand  on  the  side  of  the  old  Wealden  range  that  once  rose 
2,000  to  3,000  feet  over  what  are  now  Crowborough  and  other 
Sussex  hills.  The  red  clay  with  flints,  that  stained  the  implements, 
is,  on  the  contrary,  of  local  origin  and  occurs  over  other  areas  as 
well  as  those  reached  by  the  southern  drift  containing  the  rude 
implements. 

The  southern  drift  on  the  summit  of  the  plateau  is  older,  then, 
than  the  great  chalk  escarpment  or  the  valleys  of  the  Darent  and 
Medway,  which  drain  the  Wealden  district  and,  on  their  way  north- 
ward to  the  Thames,  cut  the  Chalk  plateau  into  three  sections. 
The  escarpment  and  the  broad  valleys  of  the  present  drainage 
system    are   older   than   the   gravel    terraces   occuning   at  various 


430  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

levels  in  the  valleys.  But,  according  to  Prestwich,  all  these  ter- 
races up  to  a  height  of  about  340  feet  above  sea-level  are  of  post- 
glacial age  and  contain  flint  implements  of  the  paleolithic  type. 
The  paleoliths  associated  with  bones  of  the  Mammoth  and  woolly 
rhinoceros  found  in  the  gravel-pits  at  Aylesford/  only  a  few  feet 
above  the  present  bed  of  the  Medway,  are  later  than  those  found  in 
the  high-level  valley  terraces  ;  these  in  turn  are  subsequent  to  the 
great  denudation  that  swept  away  the  chalk  bridge  spanning  the 
Weald  and  uniting  the  North  and  South  Downs  ;  and  finally,  from 
the  very  nature  of  things,  this  enormous  denudation  must  have 
taken  place  subsequent  to  the  time  when  the  southern  drift  was 
carried  northward  and  deposited  with  the  red  clay  on  the  summit 
of  the  North  Downs,  where  patches  of  it  still  exist. 

Other  evidence  conclusive  of  the  great  antiquity  of  the  plateau 
drift,  as  well  as  of  the  successive  river  drifts  of  the  Thames  valley, 
may  be  furnished  by  a  section  (figure  i  5)  extending  from  the  Lower 
Greensand  hills,  near  Ightham,  northward  to  the  Thames  at  Milton 
Street.  Such  a  section  would  pass  through  the  summit  level  of 
Swanscombe  hill,  capped  by  Tertiary  strata  and  forming  an  outlier 
of  the  older  drift.  This  hill  with  its  spread  of  southern  drift,  though 
not  much  more  than  300  feet  high,  corresponds  with  the  gradient 
of  the  plateau  if  extended  southward  and  upward  till  it  reaches 
West  Yoke  and  Ash,  where  Harrison  found  some  of  his  first  speci- 
mens. At  Milton  Street,  north  of  Swanscombe  hill,  and  near  the 
village  of  Swanscombe,  the  high-level  river  drift  is  met  with  at  an 
elevation  200  feet  lower  than  the  plateau  drift  on  the  summit  of 
Swanscombe  hill.  The  Milton  Street  river  drift  is  100  feet  above 
the  Thames,  and  contains  flint  implements  of  the  well-known  amyg- 
daloid (Chellean)  type  ;  while  at  a  still  lower  level  are  brick-earths 
and  gravel  in  which,  associated  with  Quaternary  mammalian  re- 
mains, are  found  flint  implements  of  a  type  later  than  those  at 
Milton  Street.  Hence,  there  are  at  least  three  distinct  and  succes- 
sive steps  from  Ash  down  to  the  Thames  :  plateau  drift  with  eoliths, 
high-level  river  drift  with  paleoliths,  and  low-level  river  drift  with 
paleoliths  of  a  more  perfected  type.     These  epochs  do  not  include 

1  I  found  remains  of  both  Mammoth  and  Rhinoceros  in  the  pits  at  Aylesford.  I  also 
obtained  from  one  of  the  workmen  a  flint  implement  of  the  Acheulian  type. 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITH IC  PROBLEM 


431 


the  neolithic  culture  o{  the  region,  evidence 
of  which  may  be  found  on  the  surface  at  all 
levels. 

The  section  described  does  not  cut  the 
Chalk  plateau  through  its  highest  elevation, 
which,  at  Titsey  hill,  w^est  of  the  Darent  val- 
ley, is  864  feet  above  the  sea.  Even  here, 
De  Barri  Crawshay  found  a  patch  of  red 
Clay  and  southern  drift,  with  implements  of 
the  plateau  type.  This  drift  was  trans- 
ported across  the  chalk  escarpment  and 
the  chalk  plain  into  the  Thames  valley 
along  lines  independent  of  the  present  drain- 
age ;  the  patches  that  now  cap  the  highest 
points  marking  what  were  then  the  valleys. 

Prestwich  thinks  the  southern  drift  may 
be  of  later  date  than  the  locally  derived 
red  clay  with  which  it  is  so  intimately  asso- 
ciated. Both  are  older  than  the  northern 
drift  or  bowlder-clay  and  newer  than  the 
outcrop  of  Tertiary  strata  that  caps  the 
chalk  at  Swanscombe  hill.  Prestwich  calls 
them  simply  pre-glacial,  Rutot  places  them 
in  the  Middle  Pliocene.  The  geological 
age  of  the  plateau  drift  could  be  deter- 
mined still  more  definitely  were  it  not  for 
two  missing  links  in  the  chain  of  evidence. 
In  the  first  place,  the  Tertiary  series  of  de- 
posits are  not  all  present.  The  second 
difficulty  arises  from  the  absence  of  organic 
remains,  the  property  of  the  infiltrating 
waters  being  such  as  to  dissolve  all  cal- 
careous elements  as  completely  as  if  they 
were  lumps  of  sugar.  As  soon,  however, 
as  the  high-level  river  terraces  are  reached, 
the  older  type  of  paleoliths  are  found  in  as- 
sociation with  a  fauna  in  part  now  extinct. 


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432  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

The  Shelly  gravel-pit  at  Swanscombe  is  a  good  example.  I  am  in- 
debted to  Mrs  Stopes,  wife  of  the  late  Henry  Stopes,  for  some 
excellent  examples  of  early  paleoliths  from  this  pit  which  has  fur- 
nished remains  of  Elephas  antiquus,  Elephas  primigenius,  Corbicula 
fluminalis,  and  many  other  species,  living  as  well  as  extinct. 

There  is  no  doubt  as  to  the  great  age  (pre-glacial)  of  the  plateau 
deposit  of  red  clay  with  flints  and  southern  drift,  even  though  the 
fauna  has  not  been  preserved.  There  remain,  however,  two  other 
questions  to  be  disposed  of,  namely:  (i)  Do  the  specimens  found 
by  Harrison  bear  marks  of  use  by  man  or  of  design  in  form  ?  —  and 
(2)  Are  they  as  old  as  the  patches  of  clay  and  drift  on  the  summit 
of  the  plateau?  Prestwich  answers  both  these  questions  in  the 
affirmative. 

Before  formulating  answers  of  my  own  or  even  accepting  those 
of  another,  I  determined  to  study  the  problems  involved  at  closer 
range.  Photographic  reproductions  and  drawings  of  specimens 
shaped  into  definite  patterns  may  give  one  absolutely  true  impres- 
sions of  the  originals.  They  are,  on  the  other  hand,  far  from  satis- 
factory in  the  case  of  the  rudely-shaped  eoliths.  Therefore,  I  spent 
a  part  of  the  summer  of  1903  in  Kent  with  Harrison  himself  and 
with  Mr  Percival  A.  B.  Martin  of  Chipstead,  Sevenoaks,  a  trained 
collector  and  disciple  of  Harrison.  Before  going  to  the  field,  I 
made  a  careful  study  of  the  important  series  collected  by  both  these 
investigators,  who  placed  themselves  as  well  as  their  collections 
unreservedly  at  my  disposal.  Mr  Martin  gave  additional  facilities 
in  the  use  of  his  automobile  during  my  week's  stay,  thus  rendering 
it  possible  to  accomplish  much  in  a  comparatively  short  time.  We 
made  the  ascent  by  the  Vigo  to  the  Chalk  plateau,  and  visited  many 
of  the  best-known  stations  on  the  summit.  Collections  were  made 
at  several  of  these  places,  especially  at  Fairseat  and  in  Terry's  Lodge 
pit,  opened  the  previous  year  by  Messrs  Harrison  and  Benton  (of 
Mailing)  and  at  their  joint  expense. 

My  excursions  in  Kent  were  supplemented  by  visits  to  the  col- 
lections of  the  British  Museum  at  Bloomsbury  and  South  Kensing- 
ton, as  well  as  to  the  private  collection  of  Mr  W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott 
at  St  Leonard's-on-Sea.  The  eoliths  in  the  British  Museum, 
Bloomsbury,   were  collected  on  the  North   Downs   by  Harrison. 


MACCL-RDV]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  433 

The  larger  and  more  characteristic  collection  at  South  Kensington 
is  the  gift  of  Sir  Joseph  and  Lady  Prestwich,  and  includes  the 
specimens  figured  in  Prestwich's  "Collected  Papers  on  some  Con- 
troverted Questions  of  Geology."  These  also  for  the  greater  part 
were  collected  by  Harrison. 

Mr  Abbott,  of  St  Leonard's-on-Sea,  was  for  many  years  a  resident 
of  Sevenoaks  and  is  perhaps  as  well  acquainted  with  prehistoric  Kent 
as  anyone.  His  collection  is  one  of  the  most  important,  and  his 
technical  knowledge  of  the  problems  involved  in  the  art  of  chipping 
flint  is  of  the  first  order.  I  spent  two  days  with  him,  including  a 
visit  to  the  local  Museum  at  Hastings  in  which  he  is  much  interested 
and  where  a  part  of  his  collection  has  already  been  installed.  To 
him  and  to  Messrs  Harrison  and  Martin  I  am  indebted  for  a  num- 
ber of  valuable  specimens  as  well  as  for  information  and  guidance 
in  the  field. 

Returning  now  to  the  questions  already  propounded  in  the  light 
of  what  I  saw  in  Kent,  Sussex,  and  London,  I  feel  impelled  to  ac- 
cept the  conclusions  of  Prestwich,  namely,  that  many  of  these  pla- 
teau flints  bear  the  impress  of  man's  handiwork.  The  marks  are 
often  the  result  of  use  alone  and  not  of  design.  This  is  due  partly 
to  the  fact  that  the  people  of  that  time  did  not  know  how  to  obtain 
the  raw  materials  from  the  chalk,  but  depended  entirely  on  picking 
up  from  the  drift  natural  flakes  of  approximately  the  shape  and  size 
needed.  A  sharp  edge  was  utilized  once,  twice,  or  until  it  became 
dulled,  and  was  then  cast  aside.  The  signs  of  use,  though  slight, 
"afe  unmistakable.  If  an  angular  piece  did  not  admit  of  being  com- 
fortably grasped  in  the  hand,  the  troublesome  corners  were  removed. 
Some  pieces  were  used  simply  as  hammer-  or  trimming-stones. 
Perhaps  a  majority  of  the  specimens  show  no  special  design  in  their 
shape.  Many,  however,  may  be  grouped  according  to  more  or  less 
definite  patterns.  Prestwich  recognizes  three  such  groups.  The 
first  ts  rather  numerous,  including  thin,  flat  fragments  of  flint  or 
natural  flakes  with  chippings  and  notches  along  the  margins,  pro- 
ducing at  times  rude  points  ;  split  flint  pebbles  of  Tertiary  age  with 
edges  chipped  to  serve  as  scrapers  ;  and  flints  that,  with  a  little 
trimming,  could  be  easily  grasped  in  the  hand  and  used  as  hammer- 
stones.     The  second  group  is  the  largest  of  all  and  is  characterized 


^„ 


434  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

by  various  types  of  scrapers.  Two  of  these  deserve  special  men- 
tion, viz.,  the  small  crescent-shaped  scrapers  comparable  to  the 
spoke-shave,  and  the  double  scrapers  with  an  intervening  point 
separating  the  two  scraping  edges.  The  third  group  is  small  and 
is  represented  by  various  fling-stones  and  drill-shaped  implements. 
In  every  case  the  eolith  does  not  represent  so  much  a  precon- 
eived  form  of  implement  as  a  resultant  of  a  given  natural  form 
modified  by  certain  marks  of  utilization,  of  adaptation,  or  by  series 
of  retouches.  The  shape  of  a  chosen  flake  was  not  wholly  deter- 
mined by  the  uses  for  which  it  was  intended,  but  was  limited  largely 
by  the  variety  in  Nature's  supply  of  the  raw  material.  The  dis- 
covery that  knives  and  forks  were  the  best  substitutes  for  teeth  and 
fingers  was  not  made  in  a  single  generation.  It  is  safe,  therefore, 
to  assume  that  it  took  the  combined  effort  of  generations  of  eolithic 
experimenters  to  arrive  at  the  idea  of  correlating  a  given  form  of 
tool  with  a  given  use  or  series  of  uses.  As  long  as  any  flake 
served  the  purpose  of  the  workman,  Nature's  supply  sufficed.  As 
soon  as  it  was  learned  that  a  certain  form  of  implement  served  him 
better  in  certain  instances  than  any  other  form,  he  discovered  that 
it  ,would  not  do  to  depend  on  the  chance  finding  of  specimens 
suited  to  his  growing  needs.  This  led  him  of  necessity  to  supple- 
ment the  natural  supply,  a  lesson  which  was  not  learned  until  the 
beginning  of  paleolithic  times,  as  we  shall  soon  see. 

How  very  different  are  the  valley  implements  !  Their  makers 
no  longer  depended  on  pebbles  and  angular  fragments,  but  knew 
how  to  extract  the  raw  material  direct  from  the  chalk.  With  the 
use  of  large,  fresh,  flint  nodules,  the  art  of  chipping  developed 
rapidly.  The  establishment  of  local  workshops  followed  as  a  logi- 
cal consequence.  Some  of  these  workshops  have  been  left  undis- 
turbed so  as  to  make  it  possible  to  reconstruct  large  flint  nodules 
and  cores  from  the  numerous  chips  and  implements  strewn  over  a 
paleolithic  floor.  Mr  F.  C.  J.  Spurrell  ^  found  such  a  workshop 
at  Crayford,_Kent.  '  The  series  he  obtained  there  forms  an  inter- 
esting exhibit  at  the  Museum  of  Natural  History,  South  Kensing- 
ton. Similar  discoveries  have  been  made  by  Mr  J.  Allen  Brown 
at  Acton,  and  by  Mr  Worthington  G.  Smith  at  Stoke  Newington 

1  Quar.  Jour.  Geol.  Soc,  1S80,  xxxvi,  544. 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM  435 

and  Caddington.  During  the  summer  of  1900  it  was  my  good 
fortune  to  visit  several  of  the  clay  pits  about  Caddington  in  com- 
pany with  ]\Ir  Smith  and  to  see  in  one  of  the  pits  a  typical  paleo- 
lithic floor. 

/     Are  the  plateau  implements  as  old  as  the  drift  with  which  they 

are  associated  ?     IMight  they  not  have  been  dropped  on  the  surface 

of  the  Downs  in  paleolithic  or  even  in  recent  times  ?     Unpolished 

;   neolithic  implements  may  be  met  with  on  the  surface  at  any  level ; 

/    but  they  differ  in  both  form  and  condition  from  the  specimens  in 

\     question.     Their  edges   are   often  dulled,  but  never  water-worn. 

•j     The  originally  dark  surfaces  have  taken  on  a  whitish  luster  and  are 

1     more   or    less   plough-stained.     The  eoliths,  on   the  contrar>%  are 

1     uniformly  stained  on  the  natural  as  well  as  on  the  worked  surfaces, 

to  a  deep,  ocherous  brown  color,  and  usually  bear  marks  of  drift 

action. 

The  neoHths  are  confined  to  the  surface,  but  are  not  limited 
geographically.  The  eoliths  are  limited  geographically,  but,  as  we 
shall  see  later,  are  uo,t  confined  to  surface  finds.  They  are  coex- 
tensive with  the  old  drift.  But  this  drift  is  found  in  patches  only, 
much  of  it  long  since  having  been  removed  from  the  summit  of  the 
Downs  by  denudation.  If  the  patches  that  are  left  yield  eoliths, 
others  must  have  been  carried  away  along  with  the  drift  to  the 
valleys  below,  where  one  would  expect  to  find  them  as  derived 
specimens.  A  few  such  examples  have  been  obtained  after  careful 
search.  Figures  i  and  2,  plate  xxv,  a,  belong  to  this  categor>'. 
I  found  them  in  a  middle  terrace  gravel-pit  near  Farnham,  Surrey. 
I  also  obtained  two  paleoliths  of  the  usual  type  from  the  same  pit. 
The  derived  implement  shown  in  figure  i  is  a  natural  flint  flake, 
4.5  cm.  in  length.  The  sHghtly  convex  surface  of  fracture  is 
stained  bluish  white,  and  the  rust>^  white  crust  is  retained  intact  over 
the  outer  surface.  The  chipping,  which  is  confined  to  a  single 
lateral  margin,  was  done  with  so  much  care  that  an  overhanging 
prominence  of  the  external  crust,  which  would  be  supposed  to  re- 
ceive the  first  ill-directed  blow,  was  left  untouched.  The  prominence 
might  well  have  served  both  as  a  rest  and  as  a  protection  for  the 
thumb.  The  specimen  shown  in  figure  2  is  likewise  a  natural  flake. 
It   is  weathered   more  deeply  than   the  preceding.     The  piece  is 


O      THE 

('NIVERSITY 

OF 


436  AMERICAN  AKTHROFOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

triangular  in  shape.  The  chipping  is  confined  to  the  longest  mar- 
gin, the  blows  being  given  from  one  direction  and  in  the  same 
plane.  Nowhere  else  is  there  evidence  of  even  accidental  blows. 
/  Harrison's  first  plateau  discoveries  were  made  on  the  surface, 
in  shallow  plough  furrows  or  in  trenches  and  roadside  cuttings. 
jTheir  deep  staining,  however,  led  Prestwich  to  believe  that  the 
Ispecimens  had  been  imbedded  in  a  deposit  beneath  the  surface. 
'An  implement  from  a  post-hole  at  Kingsdown,  one  from  a  hole  dug 
two  feet  deep  for  tree-planting  at  Parsonage  farm,  a  third  from  two 
or  more  feet  beneath  the  surface  in  a  bank  of  red  clay  at  the  side 
of  a  pond,  and  a  fourth  at  an  equal  depth  in  red  clay  at  the  Vigo 
gap,  served  to  strengthen  Prestwich' s  view. 

In  1894  the  British  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 
appointed  a  committee  "  to  investigate  the  nature  and  probable  age 
of  the  high-level  flint-drift  in  the  face  of  the  Chalk  escarpment  near 
Ightham,  which  appears  to  be  productive  of  flakes  and  other  forms 
of  flint  probably  wrought  by  the  hand  of  man."  A  grant  was 
placed  at  the  disposal  of  this  committee,  which  consisted  of  Sir 
John  Evans  (chairman).  Professor  Prestwich,  Prof  H.  G.  Seeley, 
and  Mr  Benjamin  Harrison  (secretary).  Mr  Pink,  the  owner  of 
Parsonage  farm,  Stanstead,  had  previously  sunk  a  pit  in  the  drift, 
and  had  found  plateau  implements  at  a  depth  of  six  or  seven  feet. 
Adjoining  this,  the  committee's  first  pit  was  sunk  through  two  and 
a  half  feet  of  "  humus  and  drifted  material,  white  flints,  pebbles, 
and  many  ochreous  flints  worn  and  worked";^  three  and  a  half 
feet  of  "grey  loam,  with  scattered  small  pebbles,  and  a  few  small, 
worked,  ochreous  flints  throughout";  and  one  foot  of  compact 
gravel  with  many  worked  flints.  A  second  pit  was  sunk  near  by 
and  revealed  "  precisely  similar  conditions."  The  latter  was  sunk 
to  a  depth  of  twenty-six  feet,  most  of  the  way  through  Lower 
Tertiary  pebbles  Avithout  reaching  the  Chalk.  No  implements 
were  found  below  a  depth  of  eight  feet. 

Through  the  courtesy  of  Mr  W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott,  the  Yale  Uni- 
versity Museum  possesses  an  eolith  (plate  xxv,  b,  fig.  2)  that  was 
found  /;/  situ  in  the  first  pit  sunk  on  Parsonage  farm,  Stanstead,  the 
year  before  work  was  begun  by  the  British  Association.     It  is  a  large 

"^British  Association  Report,  1895,  p.  349. 


maccurdy]  the  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  4^7 

natural  flake,  the  greatest  diameter  being  9.7  cm.  The  outer  sur- 
face retains  the  crust  of  the  original  nodule,  the  inner  is  stained  yel- 
lowish brown.  In  shape  it  resembles  the  feline  foot,  trimmed  in  the 
region  of  the  toes,  the  heel  left  untouched,  and  a  deep  notch  near 
the  heel  carefully  worked.  It  might  have  been  used  as  a  hammer 
or  trimming-stone,  and  the  crescent-shaped  notch  near  the  heel 
could  well  serve  as  a  spoke-shave.  The  specimen  represented  in 
figure  I  of  the  same  plate,  also  the  gift  of  Mr  Abbott,  is  from  Fawk- 
ham,  some  distance  to  the  north  of  Stanstead.  It  is  a  natural  flake 
from  the  old  flint  drift,  and  is  much  more  deeply  weathered  than  the 
one  from  the  Stanstead  pit.  Eoliths  of  this  general  type  may  have 
been  used  as  strigils  as  illustrated  by  the  Apoxyomenos  statue  in  the 
Vatican,  or  after  the  manner  of  the  natives  of  Tierra  del  Fuego, 
who  will  not  easily  part  with  their  much-prized  body-stones.  In 
this  connection  it  should  be  mentioned  that  the  illustrations  accom- 
panying this  paper  are  of  specimens  from  the  collections  made  by 
me  during  the  summer  of  1903.  Some  I  found  myself,  others  were 
obtained  from  local  collectors.  All  are  now  the  property  of  the 
Yale  University  Museum. 

The  eoliths  figured  in  plate  xxvi,  a,  w^ere  found  at  South  Ash 
by  Mr  Benjamin  Harrison.  Figure  2  is  one  of  the  largest  eoliths 
in  the  Yale  collection,  its  greatest  diagonal  dimensions  being  12  cm. 
The  inner,  flat  surface  is  stained  to  a  deep,  warm  brown  color  which 
spreads  also  over  the  trimmed  edges,  where  it  is  only  slightly  less 
pronounced  in  tone.  The  flake  was,  therefore,  evidently  not  fresh 
when  first  utilized.  The  working  was  all  done  in  one  direction,  the 
blows  being  aimed  toward  the  outer  crust.  Chance  chipping  would 
have  reduced  the  somewhat  prominent  heel  which,  though  angular, 
serves  admirably  as  a  handhold.  Figure  I  is  a  double  scraper, 
with  an  intervening  point  between  the  two  scraping  edges.  The 
base  has  been  retouched  enough  to  make  it  fit  the  hand  more  com- 
fortably. The  worked  surfaces  are  covered  with  a  mottled  stain  of 
bluish  gray  and  buff,  while  the  flat  surface  of  fracture  has  taken  on 
a  warmer  hue. 

Mention  has  already  been  made  of  Terry's  Lodge  pit  opened  in 
1902  by  Messrs  Harrison  and  Benton.  On  the  occasion  of  our  visit 
to  this  pit,  which  is  sunk  to  a  depth  of  about  five  feet,  very  near  the 


438  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

face  of  the  chalk  escarpment  at  a  point  700  feet  above  sea-level, 
we  were  successful  in  finding,  after  an  hour's  digging,  two  speci- 
mens ^  in  situ  that  were  evidently  worked.  Two  worked  pieces 
were  also  picked  up  from  the  heap  of  clay  and  gravel  thrown  out 
when  the  pit  was  first  opened.  These  are  both  illustrated  in  plate 
XXV,  A,  figs.  3  and  4.  They  are  natural  flakes  stained  to  a  rich, 
reddish  brown  color.  The  specimen  represented  by  figure  3  is  a 
crescent-shaped  scraper  of  the  spoke-shave  type,  and  may  be  classed 
with  Prestwich's  second  group  referred  to  on  page  434.  Figure  4 
is  an  example  of  the  first  group.  It  is  roughly  triangular  in  shape  ; 
the  two  margins  which  meet  at  the  apex  are  both  worked,  but  on 
opposite  sides.  In  other  words,  after  chipping  one  of  the  margins, 
instead  of  rotating  the  specimen  until  the  adjacent  margin  was 
brought  into  play,  it  was  reversed.  Pieces  that  show  reversed 
chipping  would  seem  to  possess  special  claim  to  consideration  as 
artifacts.  One  loves  to  think  of  Chance  as  being  unhampered  in 
her  actions.  It  would  tend  to  upset  one's  habitual  regard  for  her 
strict  impartiality  to  find  her,  for  instance,  not  only  bunching  her 
blows  along  a  single  margin  of  a  flint  flake,  but  also  administering 
them  in  a  given  plane  and  from  a  given  direction.  To  go  further 
and  demand  that  she  should  reverse  the  flake  before  beginning  on 
an  adjacent  margin  would  be  to  ignore  all  the  rules  of  probability. 

My  experiences  in  the  field,  as  may  be  inferred,  served  at  every 
point  to  strengthen  my  belief  in  Prestwich's  conclusions  ;  namely, 
that  the  plateau  specimens  bear  marks  of  man's  handiwork,  and  that 
they  sustain  the  same  relation  to  the  old  southern  drift  as  the  valley 
specimens  do  to  the  gravel  terraces  in  which  they  are  found.  Prest- 
wich's views  are  shared  by  practically  all  the  many  archeologists 
who  have  made  personal  investigations  in  the  field. 

Kent  is  not  the  only  county  in  which  the  eoliths  occur.  Mr 
O.  A.  Shrubsole,  of  Reading,  found  them  in  Berkshire  soon  after 
Harrison's  first  discoveries  on  the  North  Downs.  They  have  also 
been  found  under  similar  conditions  by  Martin  on  the  South  Downs 

>  The  best  one  of  these,  together  with  other  plateau  specimens,  was  used  to  illustrate 
a  paper  read  before  Section  H  at  the  St  Louis  Meeting  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S.,  1903-04.  As 
it  disappeared,  mysteriously,  on  that  occasion,  I  conclude  that  it  must  have  been  con- 
vincing to  at  least  one  member  of  the  audience. 


I-  6 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  439 

at  Beachy  Head,  near  Eastbourne,  Sussex  ;  by  l^lackmore,  Bullen, 
and  others  near  Salisbury,  Wilts  ;  and  in  Dorset  ;  also  in  Surre}', 
Hampshire,  the  southern  part  of  Essex,  and  Norfolk.  For  details 
of  the  various  discoveries,  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  bibliography 
accompanying  this  paper. 
^  The  deposits  investigated  by  Shrubsole  consist  of  pre-glacial 

gravel  beds,  from  five  to  ten  feet  in  thickness,  that  cover  "  the 
summit  of  an  elongated  plateau  stretching  from  Easthampstead, 
Berks,  to  Ash  Common,  near  Aldershot."  They  are  composed  of 
the  same  southern  drift  that  has  furnished  the  implements  found  on 
the  North  Downs,  and  had  their  origin  in  the  heights  that  once  rose 
over  what  is  now  the  Wealden  district  to  the  south  and  southwest. 
The  gravel-capped  plateau  rises  to  an  average  level  of  about  400 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  "  forms  the  highest  ground  between  the 
rivers  Wey  and  Blackwater."  The  specimens  described  came  chiefly 
from  Finchampstead,  Easthampstead,  and  from  near  Bagshot.  They 
present  precisely  the  same  general  aspect  as  do  those  from  the  North 
Downs.  Shrubsole  believes  them  to  be  as  old  as  or  older  than  the 
gravel  beds.  His  opinion  is  based  on  their  mineral  condition,  and 
on  the  fact  that  he,  himself,  took  them  "  from  the  gravel  freshly 
fallen  from  the  face  of  the  pits,  or  from  the  heaps  of  screened  gravel 
in  the  pits."  It  is  pointed  out  that  no  artificial  flakes  and  no  im- 
plements of  the  amygdaloid  type  have  been  found  in  these  gravels 
—  a  bit  of  negative  evidence  that  gathers  much  weight  when  cor- 
related with  evidence  of  the  same  nature  from  other  parts  of  the 
country. 

The  gravels  rest  upon  what  Shrubsole  calls  the  Upper  Bagshot. 
But,  according  to  Geikie,^  there  is  no  marked  separation  between 
the  Upper  and  the  Middle  Bagshot  series  in  the  London  basin. 
They  may  be,  therefore,  of  either  Middle  or  Upper  Eocene  age. 
The  gravels  capping  them  are  newer ;  probably  Upper  Pliocene, 
since  Prestwich  was  disposed  to  regard  them  as  corresponding 
broadly  in  time  with  the  Chillesford  and  Forest-bed  groups,  and 
these  are  Upper  Pliocene.'  If  fluviatile,  they  "  would  be  the  work 
of  a  stream  which  for  a  long  time  has  ceased  to  exist,  since  its  bed 


1  Textbook  of  Geology,  4th  ed.,  1903,  p.  1233. 
21bid.,  p.  1281. 


440  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

now  occupies  the  summit  of  a  hill-range,  and  on  the  sites  of  the 
former  hills  are  now  river  valleys." 

Dr  H.  P.  Blackmore's  discovery  at  Dewlish,  Dorset,  of  eoliths 
associated  with  the  remains  of  Elephas  meridionalis  was  announced 
to  the  Victoria  Institute  in  1900,  through  a  letter  to  the  Rev.  R. 
Ashington  Bullen.  The  Blackmore  Museum  in  Salisbury  is  of 
special  interest  to  Americans  because  it  contains  the  famous  Squier 
and  Davis  collection  of  antiquities  from  the  Mississippi  valley,  pur- 
chased by  Blackmore  before  its  value  was  appreciated  in  this  country. 
The  same  museum  now  possesses  an  important  collection  of  eoliths. 
Many  of  these  were  found  by  Dr  Blackmore  in  the  Alderbury 
gravels  near  Salisbury,  he  having  taken  them  out  of  the  gravels  at 
all  levels,  to  a  depth  of  fourteen  feet,  with  his  own  hands.  These 
Alderbury  gravels  were  classed  as  Southern  Drift  by  Prestwich. 
Like  the  deposits  on  the  Kent  plateau,  they  are  not  fossihferous. 
They  rest  upon  the  Bagshot  sands,  and  "  are  at  a  much  higher 
level  than  the  river  drift,  which  furnishes  both  flint  paleolithic  im- 
plements and  a  very  good  Hst  of  Pleistocene  mammals  and  shells." 

The  Alderbury  gravels  are  exploited  largely  for  road-metalling  ; 
and  for  twenty  years,  at  least,  the  pits  have  been  searched  in  vain 
for  implements  of  the  well-known  paleolithic  type.  On  the  other 
hand,  specimens  of  this  type  are  fairly  plentiful  in  the  river-drift 
terraces  of  the  neighborhood. 

In  his  effort  to  establish  the  age  of  the  eoliths  by  means  of 
paleontological  evidence,  Dr  Blackmore  had  recourse  to  a  patch  of 
eravel  in  Dorset,  where  his  grandfather  had  found  a  molar  of  Ele- 
phas  meridionalis,  as  long  ago  as  1813  ;  and  where  he,  himself, 
was  present  at  the  discovery,  in  1887,  of  the  remains  of  Elephas 
meridionalis  now  in  the  Dorchester  Museum. 

Dr  Blackmore,  in  describing  his  search  for  eoliths,  writes  : 

"  Being  very  anxious  to  fix  the  Pliocene  age  of  these  eoliths  [mean- 
ing those  from  near  Salisbury] ,  rather  more  than  a  year  ago  I  went  down 
to  Dewlish,  in  Dorset,  with  the  express  purpose  of  carefully  examining 
the  gravel  which  had  furnished  the  remains  of  Elephas  meridionalis,  as 
this  was  the  one  spot  in  the  South  of  England  which  was  regarded  as  a 
patch  of  Pliocene  gravel. 

"  The  farmer,  Mr.  Kent,  on  whose  land  the  elephant  remains  were 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITH/C  PROBLEM  44 1 

found,  was  fortunately  known  to  me,  and  he  furnished  me  with  two 
labourers.  A  trench  was  opened  through  the  deposit  of  gravel,  and  there 
was  no  difficulty  in  finding  eoliths,  stained  like  the  gravel,  at  the  same 
level  and  associated  with  the  elephant  bones.  This  was  to  me  most 
satisfactory  and  conclusive." 

A  recent  letter  to  me  from  Mr  Percival  A.  B.  Martin  describes 
a  new  locality  for  eoliths  about  six  miles  west  of  Eastbourne,  as 
follows  : 

''  The  plateau  drift  caps  a  hill  that  is  about  600  feet  above  sea  level, 
and  evidently  belongs  to  the  same  spread  of  drift  as  that  at  Beachy  Head, 
which  also  was  the  bottom  of  a  very  ancient  valley,  the  vestiges  of  which 
are  now  preserved  only  on  the  very  highest  points  of  the  district." 

The  Chalk  cliffs  at  Beachy  Head  are  familiar  to  every  Channel 
voyager.  The  Chalk  suddenly  disappears  at  Eastbourne  and  does 
not  reappear  until  one  is  opposite  Dover,  a  distance  of  more  than 
50  miles.  It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  cliffs  at  Beachy  Head 
and  Dover  are  the  bases  of  a  great  anticlinal  fold  whose  axis  passes 
from  Dungeness  in  a  westerly  direction  through  Hampshire.  The 
crest  of  the  fold,  including  not  only  the  Chalk  beds  but  also  the 
underlying  strata  of  Upper  Greensand,  Gault,  Lower  Greensand, 
and  Weald,  has  disappeared.  If,  before  it  disappeared,  the  old 
drift  and  eoliths  were  transported  northward  and  left  on  the  North 
Downs,  the  same  old  drift  with  eoliths  must  have  been  carried 
southward  and  deposited  on  the  South  Downs.  A  line  drawn  from 
Ash  to  Beachy  Head  would  cut  the  axis  of  the  fold  at  right  angles. 
IMartin  thought  he  ought  to  find  the  old  drift  with  eoliths  at  Beachy 
Head,  and  we  have  just  seen  how   his   search   has  been  rewarded. 

Both  plateaus  are  but  slender  tongues  from  the  great  Chalk 
plain  of  Dorset,  Wiltshire,  and  Hampshire,  the  tip  of  one  being  at 
Dover,  that  of  the  other  at  Beachy  Head.  Each  will  be  explored 
eventually  throughout  its  extent.  The  Chalk  plain  itself  may  be 
relied  on  for  localities  other  than  those  already  discovered.  The 
Chalk  is  also  continuous  all  the  way  from  Dorset  and  Salisbury 
Plain  in  a  northeasterly  direction  to  Cromer  on  the  Norfolk  coast. 
At  the  southwestern  extremity  of  this  Chalk  belt  Dr  Blackmore 
found  eoliths  associated  with  the  remains  of  Elephas  meridionalis  ; 
at  its  northeastern  extremity,  Abbott  found  a  like  association  in 

AM.  ANTH.,  N.  S.,  7 — 30 


442  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [x.  s.,  7,  1905 

deposits  of  the  same  age.  The  results  of  the  researches  of  Worth- 
ington  G.  Smith  at  Caddington,  near  Dunstable,  about  midway  be- 
tween Dewlish  and  Cromer,  are  an  indication  of  the  possibilities  of 
the  entire  Chalk  belt. 

Mr  W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott's  discovery,  mentioned  above,  was 
made  while  searching  the  Elephas  deposits  of  the  Cromer  Forest 
bed,  to  the  west  of  East  Runton.  In  the  same  level  with  Elephas 
meridionalis,  Abbott  found  several  worked  flints,  two  in  siUi ;  others, 
because  of  their  peculiar  staining,  evidently  from  the  same  bed.  I 
saw  these  specimens,  and  with  Abbott  believe  in  their  artificial 
character.  Rutot,  of  Brussels,  to  whom  Abbott  sent  the  specimens 
for  examination,  is  of  the  same  opinion.  An  added  interest  at- 
taches to  the  Forest  bed  implements  in  view  of  the  recent  researches 
by  Laville  and  Rutot  in  the  Upper  Pliocene  deposits  at  Saint-Prest, 
near  Chartres,  the  station  that  came  into  prominence  nearly  forty 
years  ago  through  the  discoveries  of  the  Abbe  Bourgeois. 

V    Belgium 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  early  discoveries  bearing  on 
a  pre-paleolithic  industry  in  France  and  Portugal.  In  recent  years 
the  theater  of  interest  and  action  has  centered  in  Belgium,  owing 
largely  to  the  researches  of  Dr  A.  Rutot,  of  the  Royal  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  Brussels.  Admirably  fitted  by  special  training  in 
engineering  and  geology,  Rutot  early  took  up  the  study  of  the 
Belgian  Quaternary.  This  work  led  naturally  to  the  subject  of 
prehistoric  anthropology  (Quaternary  and  Pliocene),  and  to  the 
work  of  such  men  as  Gabriel  de  Mortillet.  But  Rutot  did  not 
believe  in  the  new  faith  preached  by  de  Mortillet,  and  in  laying  deep 
and  broad  plans  to  compass  its  destruction,  he  was  led  gradually  to 
the  conclusion  that  some  at  least  of  its  tenets  were  true  in  the 
main.  The  chief  difficulty  was  that,  being  in  advance  of  his  time, 
de  Mortillet's  work  lacked  the  benefit  of  that  constructive  criticism 
without  which  a  founder's  work  is  apt  to  prove  faulty  when  the 
time  comes  to  add  the  superstructure.  Rutot  has  endeavored  to 
retain  the  sound  construction  and  to  eliminate  the  faulty.  The 
foundations  have  been  enlarged,  and  there  has  arisen  a  super- 
structure embodying  as  nearly  as  possible  the  ideas  that  are  likely 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  443 

to  survive.     The  chief  cornerstones  of  the  Rutot  edifice  are  stratig- 
raphy and  paleontology. 

It  must  not  be  inferred  that  Belgium  had  contributed  nothing 
toward  a  solution  of  the  eolithic  problem  before  Rutot' s  time.  The 
name  of  Gustave  Neyrinckx  has  already  been  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  the  committee  appointed  by  the  International  Congress 
of  Anthropology  and  Prehistoric  Archeology  (held  at  Brussels  in 
1872),  to  pass  judgment  on  the  Thenay  specimens  presented  by  the 
Abbe  Bourgeois.  To  Neyrinckx  belongs  the  honor  of  being  the 
first  discoverer  of  eoliths  in  Belgium  ;  but  he  did  not  live  to  see  the 
fruits  of  his  discoveiy  mature.  The  value  of  his  pioneer  work  is 
now  recognized,  and  the  specimens  he  found  in  the  newly-made 
railway  cut  at  Mesvin,  between  Mons  and  Harmignies,  in  1S68,  are 
now  a  highly-prized  possession  of  the  Royal  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  Brussels.  M.  Emile  Delvaux  next  took  up  the  work  at 
Mesvin,  where  he  succeeded  in  determining  stratigraphically  a 
pre-chellean  industry  to  which  he  gave  the  name  Mesvinian  — 
an  epoch  that  Rutot  later  embodied  in  his  system  of  prehistoric 
chronology. 

But  the  pre-chellean  industry  at  Mesvin  is  Quaternary  and  not 
Tertiary.  This  fact  is  of  prime  importance  for  several  reasons. 
The  industry-bearing  deposits  of  Puy-Courny  are  accepted  as 
Upper  Miocene.  Those  of  the  Chalk  plateau  are  Middle  Pliocene, 
according  to  Rutot ;  and  those  of  Saint-Prest,  the  Cromer  beds, 
and  Dewlish,  are  Upper  Pliocene — all  of  Tertiary  age.  Further, 
according  to  the  de  Mortillet  chronology  which  appeared  in  1 894, 
and  again  in  1900,  all  pre-chellean  implements  were  classed  as 
Tertiary.  The  amygdaloid  implement  was  supposed  to  date  back 
as  far  as  the  beginning  of  the  Quaternary  ;  to  be,  in  fact,  the  only 
type  of  early  Quaternary  artifact  —  a  supposition  without  founda- 
tion, as  has  been  abundantly  proved  by  Rutot  and  his  colleagues  in 
Belgium.  The  error  arose  from  taking  the  river  drift  of  Chelles  as 
a  type  station,  and  from  lack  of  a  systematic  study  of  undisturbed 
Quaternary  deposits.  In  his  exhaustive  studies  of  scores  of 
Belgian  stations,  Rutot  has  supplied  this  deficiency.  A  correlation 
of  the  data  thus  gathered  has  not  only  thrown  a  flood  of  light  on 
the  work  of  earlier  investigators,  but  has  also  illumined  hitherto 


444  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [x.  s.,  7,  1905 

untrodden  fields,  and  points  the  way  to  a  future  full  of  promise  to 
the  student  of  the  prehistoric. 

Turning  from  the  Tertiary  eoliths  of  France  and  England,  let  us 
'\/  consider  the  Quaternaiy  eoliths  of  Belgium.  Rutot's  search  for 
eoliths  was  much  simplified  by  his  early  recognition  of  the  two  con- 
ditions essential  to  their  occurrence,  viz.:  (i)  The  presence  in  abun- 
dance of  utilizable  raw  material  on  the  surface  of  the  soil,  either  in 
the  outcropping  of  Cretaceous  flint-bearing  rocks,  and  the  clays  due 
to  the  decomposition  and  dissolution  of  the  chalk ;  or  in  the  valley 
drift;  and  (2)  Proximity  to  a  water  course.  These  conditions 
obtained  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  Quaternary  in  most  of  the 
river  valleys  of  Belgium. 

These  valleys  are  often  marked  by  three  terraces  :  the  upper 
terrace,  about  90  meters  above  the  present  water-level,  of  Pliocene 
age;  the  middle  terrace  at  an  elevation  of  from  25  to  65  meters, 
and  the  lower  terrace  a  little  above  flood  water-level,  both  of  Qua- 
ternary age.  One  would  expect  to  find  the  first  Quaternary  indus- 
try in  the  stony  deposit  {cailloiitis)  that  forms  the  base  of  the  middle 
terrace  in  regions  not  covered  (and  the  regions  in  question  were  not) 
by  the  Continental  ice-sheet.  This  deposit  marks  the  very  close  of 
the  Pliocene,  but  the  flints  contained  in  it  were  utilized  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Quaternary  and  before  the  superimposed  beds  were 
formed. 

The  accompanying  section  (figure  16)  of  the  valley  of  the  Lys 
south  of  Ypres  shows  the  three  terraces  and  the  disposition  of  the 
various  Pliocene,  Quaternary,  and  recent  deposits.  Eoliths  were 
found  in  deposit  G.  To  the  industr}^  occurring  in  deposits  of  this 
age,  Rutot  has  given  the  name  Reutelian,  from  the  hamlet  of  Reu- 
tel,  to  the  east  of  Ypres,  where  a  typical  station  on  a  large  scale  is 
to  be  found.  Morphologically,  these  earliest  Quaternary  imple- 
ments resemble  in  every  respect  the  more  ancient  Tertiaiy  eoliths. 
The  name  Reutelian,  therefore,  is  to  be  understood  as  having  a 
stratigraphical  significance  only. 

The  Reutelian  industry  vaiies  lithologically  according  to  the 
varying  character  of  the  material  utilized.  In  West  Flanders,  for 
example,  nodules  of  grayish  black  flint  coming  from  the  Cretaceous 
outcrops  on  the  height  of  Artois  were  used  exclusively.     These 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM 


445 


nodules  were  easily  transformed  into  anvil-  and  hammer-stones, 
while  natural  flakes  served  as  scrapers.  There  is  no  evidence  that 
nodules  were  purposely  broken  up  to  obtain  artificial  flakes,  the 
supply  of  natural  ones  being  quite  plentiful  at  first. 

Reutelian  implements  have  been  found  not  only  in  stratigraphic 
section,  but  also  on  the  surface  of  the  soil  where  denudation  has 
left  the  deposits  in  question  exposed  ;  and  this  is  especially  true  of 
gently  sloping  hillsides  facing  the  southwest,  from  which  direction 


Fig.  1 6.  —  Section  of  the  valley  of  the  Lys  to  the  south  of  Ypres,  showing  the  three 
terraces  and  the  disposition  of  the  Pliocene,  Quaternary,  and  recent  deposits  (after 
Rutot).  A,  Recent  alluvium  (sand,  clay,  peat).  B,  Marine  sands  of  Flandrian  age 
(Upper  Quaternary).  C,  Stratified  Hesbayan  clays  (Middle  Quaternary).  D,  Cam- 
pinian  alluvium;  argillaceous  sand  and  gravel  with  fauna  of  the  Mammoth  (Middle 
Quaternary).  E,  Flinty  layer  at  the  top  of  the  Mosean  with  melange  of  Mesvinian  and 
Chellean  industries.  F,  Alosean  alluvium  (Lower  Quaternary).  G,  Flinty  layer  form- 
ing the  base  of  the  middle  terrace  (Reutelian  industry).  //,  Vestiges  of  a  Pliocene 
terrace.     Z,  Marine  deposits  (Eocene). 

come  the  prevailing  winds  and  rain.  So  thoroughly  has  Rutot 
mastered  the  problems  at  issue  that  it  has  been  possible  for  him  to 
foretell  the  locality  where  a  certain  industry  may  be  found,  simply 
by  consulting  his  geological  maps. 

The  geographic  distribution  of  the  Reutelian  industry  includes  : 
the  valley  of  the  Lys,  particularly  in  West  Flanders  ;  the  region 
about  Harmignies,  east  of  Mons  ;  both  banks  of  the  Haine  and  its 
tributaries,  from  the  French  frontier  to  Morlanwelz  ;  the  valley  of 
the  Sambre,  25  meters  and  upward  above  the  river  bed,  especially 


446  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [x.  s.,  7,  1905 

in  the  neighborhood  of  LandeHes,  also  at  Tamines,  Floreffe,  and 
finally  at  Salzinnes,  near  the  confluence  of  the  Sambre  and  the 
Meuse ;  the  valley  of  the  Meuse  to  the  south  (at  Wepion)  and  east 
of  Namur  ;  sparsely  in  Limburg,  but  over  a  large  area  ;  and  in  the 
extreme  east,  near  Spa.  The  same  industry  has  already  been  found 
in  France  at  Guise,  valley  of  the  Oise ;  Bicetre,  near  Paris  ;  and 
Saint-Prest  near  Chartres,  valley  of  the  Eure.  Dr  Hahne's  recent 
discoveries  at  Schonebeck,  in  the  valley  of  the  Elbe,  seems  to  prove 
the  presence  of  Reutelian  implements  in  Germany. 

Industrial  remains  have  also  been  found  in  the  stony  deposits 
that  form  the  base  of  the  lower  terrace  in  non-glaciated  regions  — 
deposits  synchronous  with  the  retreat  of  the  first  Quaternary  glacier, 
while  the  Reutelian  epoch  corresponds  with  the  advance  of  the  same 
glacier.  The  implements  found  at  the  base  of  the  lower  terrace  do 
not  differ  technologically  from  the  Reutelian  eoliths.  The  only 
difference  is  in  their  stratigraphic  relations.  A  good  example  of 
their  occurrence  is  to  be  found  in  the  quarries  of  Maffle,  near  Ath, 
valley  of  the  Dendre  (figure  17)  ;  hence  the  name  Maffiean  suggested 
by  Rutot  for  this  epoch.  It  has  also  been  styled  Reutelo-mesvin- 
ian,  a  name  suggested  by  its  transitional  position  between  the  epoch 
which  precedes,  and  the  one  which  follows,  called  the  Mesvinian. 

The  geographic  distribution  of  the  Mafflean  or  Reutelo-mes- 
vinian  industry  is  not  nearly  so  extended  as  that  of  the  Reutelian. 
It  is  confined  to  the  lower  valley  terraces,  and  only  to  those  that 
contain  utilizable  material.  The  principal  Reutelo-mesvinian  stations 
of  Belgium  are  :  Maffle,  valley  of  the  Dendre  ;  the  environs  of  Binche, 
valley  of  the  Haine  ;  Quievrain,  Baisieux,  Audregnies,  etc.,  valley 
of  the  Hogneau  ;  the  environs  of  Charleroi,  Aiseau,  Tamines,  etc., 
valley  of  the  Sambre ;  Wommersom,  valley  of  the  Grande-Geete, 
and  Saint-Symphorien,  Spiennes,  etc.,  valley  of  the  Trouille. 

The  specimens  figured  in  plate  xxvii,  a,  are  natural  flakes  of 
phthanite,  each  provided  with  a  sharp  margin  at  right  angles  to  the 
opposite,  tapering  end,  or  natural  handle.  In  both  cases,  the  once 
sharp  margin  has  been  dulled  by  use  as  a  scraper.  They  are  from 
the  base  of  the  Mosean  (Lower  Quaternary)  in  the  Exploitation 
Hardenpont,  at  Saint-Symphorien,  east  of  Mons,  where  the  industry 
is  unmixed  with  that  of  any  other  epoch. 


:t 

'^^W 

7 

m 

.  ^ 

■.-  ■:•<    -■  '" 

MACCURUV] 


THE  EOLirillC  PROBLEM 


447 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  M.  Cels  was  the  first  to  call  attention 
to  the  existence  of  chipped  flints  at  the  base  of  a  lower  terrace,  viz  : 
the  works  between  Spiennes  and  Saint-Symphoricn,  known  as  the 
Exploitation  Helin,  to  which  station  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer 
at  length.  This  was  in  1888,  when  the  knowledge  of  Quaternary- 
geology,  as  well  as  of  eoliths,  was  scarcely  more  than  a  blank  ; 
hence  Cels'  observations  ^  attracted  little  attention  save  opposition 
from  the  eeolocfists. 


Fig.  17.  —  Section  of  the  lower-terrace  Quaternary  deposits  in  the  quarries  at  Maffle, 
near  Ath,  valley  of  the  Dendre  (after  Rutot).  A,  Brick-earth,  summit  of  the  Flandrian. 
B,  Stratified,  sandy  clay,  the  so-called  ergeron  of  the  Flandrian.  C,  Flinty  layer  at  the 
summit  of  the  Mosean,  with  many  utilized  pieces  of  flint  and  phthanite  (Mesvinian  in- 
dustry). D,  Mosean  fluvial  sands  with  stony  layers  (utilized  pieces  of  flint  and  phthan- 
ite). E,  Flinty  layer,  base  of  the  Mosean  (Reutelo-mesvinian  or  Mafliean  industry). 
F,  Carboniferous  limestone. 

The  Reutelo-mesvinian,  as  might  be  expected,  is  found  at  the 
base  of  the  lower  terraces  in  France.  La  Fere,  valley  of  the  Oise,  is  a 
typical  station.  The  gravel  pits  in  the  lower  terraces  about  Paris 
(Billancourt,  Chelles,  Cergy,  etc.)  have  yielded  specimens  of  this  class, 
mixed,  however,  with  those  of  the  succeeding  Mesvinian  and  Chellean 
epochs,  the  mixture  being  due  to  the  disturbed  character  of  the  drift 
deposits.  The  Mafflean  industry  occurs  in  its  purity  at  Erith,  valley 
of  the  Thames.     Here  the  immediately  overlying  stratified  sands  con- 

'  Bit/l.  Soc.  d\inthr.  de  Bruxelles,  VI,  156. 


448  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

tain  remains  of  Elephas  antiquus  and  freshwater-  and  land-shells, 
including  Corbicula  fluminalis.  Two  stations  in  Germany  also 
deserve  mention  —  one  in  the  valley  of  the  Elbe,  the  other  at  Tau- 
bach,  near  Weimer. 

In  Belgium  there  is  no  trace  of  glacial  action  properly  so  called  — 
no  moraines,  no  bowlder  clay.  All  the  Quaternary  deposits  of 
Belgium,  then,  are  either  marine  or  fresh-water  with  the  exception 
of  a  single  bed  of  probably  eolian  origin.  Belgian  Quaternary  may 
be  easily  divided  into  five  series  of  deposits.  Beginning  with  the 
oldest,  these  are:  (i)  Mosean,  (2)  Campinian,  (3)  Hesbayan,  (4) 
Brabantian,  (5)  Flandrian. 

The  Mosean  consists  of  a  marine  and  a  continental  facies.  The 
fauna  of  the  lower  marine  deposits  closely  resembles  the  present 
marine  fauna  of  the  Belgium  coast.  The  upper  layers  of  the  marine 
facies  have  furnished  remains  of  the  Bison,  Cervus,  Elephas  antiquus, 
Rhinoceros  merckii,  and  Hippopotamus  major. 

The  Campinian  deposits  are  fluvial  gravels  and  sands  with  cross 
stratification,  localized  in  the  bottom  of  valleys.  They  are  often  rich 
in  remains  of  Elphas  primigenius,  Rhinoceros  tichorhinus,  Equus 
caballus,  Ursus  spelaeus,  Felis  spelaea,  Megaceros  hibernicus.  Bison 
europaeus,  etc. —  the  so-called  fauna  of  the  Mammoth. 

The  Hesbayan  stratified  clays,  20  to  30  meters  thick,  and  cov- 
ering the  greater  part  of  Belgium,  are  never  ossiferous.  The  only 
fossils  are  :  Helix  hispida,  Succinea  oblonga,  and  Pupa  muscorum, 
none  of  which  is  characteristic  of  the  Hesbayan. 

Brabantian  is  a  name  new  to  geology,  employed  for  the  first  time 
by  Rutot,  and  dating  from  the  year  1900.  The  term  represents 
the  period  of  desiccation  following  the  deposition  of  the  enormous 
Hesbayan  beds.  It  designates  the  pulverized,  non-stratified  clays, 
eolian  in  character,  and  derived  from  the  Hesbayan  clay  mantle. 
These  are  found  notably  in  Brabant,  and  are  never  fossiliferous. 

The  Flandrian,  the  last  division,  like  the  Mosean,  has  both  a 
marine  and  a  continental  facies.  The  fauna  of  the  marine  facies  is 
analogous  to  that  now  livdng  on  the  coast  of  Belgium.  Of  the  two 
continental  layers,  the  lower  consists  of  stratified  sands  and  clays 
(ergeron),  and  the  upper  is  composed  of  brick-earth.  The  fauna  of 
the  continental  deposits  is  confined  to  the  lower  layer  (ergeron),  and 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLirillC  PROBLEM  •  449 

consists  solely  of  the  shells  already  mentioned  under  the  Hesbayan, 
viz.:  Helix  hispida,  Succinca  oblonga,  and  Pupa  muscorum. 

All  these  Quaternary  deposits  have  been  carefully  examined  by 
Rutot  in  a  search  for  industrial  remains.  The  Mosean  beds  are 
divided  into  four  layers  :  (i)  Lower  gravels,  (2)  Stratified  sands  and 
gravels,  (3)  Loam,  and  (4)  Upper  gravels.  The  lower  Mosean 
gravels  occur  at  the  base  of  the  middle  terrace  and  also  in  the 
lower  terrace.  In  the  middle  terrace  they  contain  the  Reutelian 
industry  ;  and  in  the  lower  terrace,  the  Reutelo-mesvinian.  The 
industry  of  the  second  layer,  stratified  sands  and  gravels,  when 
present,  is  Reutelo-mesvinian.  The  loam  is  generally  destitute  of 
implements,  while  those  of  the  upper  Mosean  gravels,  by  reason  of 
their  stratigraphic  position,  are  placed  in  a  class  by  themselves,  to 
which  is  given  the  name  Mesvinian  —  a  term  first  employed  by  M. 
Emile  Delvaux  to  describe  the  rude  implements  found  in  the  rail- 
way cut  at  Mesvin,  between  Mons  and  Harmignies. 

The  Mesvinian  industry,  then,  occurs  in  deposits  that  cover  the 
Mosean  loam  of  the  middle  and  lower  terraces  of  valleys  in  non- 
glaciated  regions,  and,  according  to  Rutot,  is  synchronous  with 
the  beginning  of  the  first  phase  of  the  second  Quaternary  glacier. 
This  industry  is  still  of  the  purely  eolithic  type,  the  only  novel 
feature  being  a  notable  increase  in  the  percentage  of  flakes  obtained 
by  artificial  means  —  an  increase  due  to  the  scarcity  of  natural 
flakes  in  these  particular  deposits. 

The  geographic  distribution  of  the  Mesvinian  is  quite  extensive. 
In  addition  to  the  well-known  stations  at  Mesvin,  near  Mons, 
and  the  Exploitation  Helin,  at  Spiennes,  also  near  Mons,  it  occurs 
in  the  middle  terrace  of  the  valley  of  the  Lys  and  the  lower  terrace 
of  the  valley  of  the  Dendre.  Many  stations  have  been  uncovered  in 
the  valley  of  the  Haine  and  its  tributaries,  at  Quievrain,  Saint-S}'-m- 
phorien,  and  Haine-Saint-Pierre,  through  recent  activity  in  the 
production  of  phosphate  of  lime.  Two  other  localities  worthy  of 
mention  are  in  the  valley  of  the  Sambre  —  at  Aiseau  in  the  lower 
terrace  and  at  Salzinnes  les-Namur  in  the  upper  terrace. 

At  least  two  Mesvinian  stations  are  known  in  England  —  at 
Erith,  valley  of  the  Thames,  and  at  Chacely,  near  Tewkesbury, 
valley  of  the  Severn  —  each  in  a  lower  terrace.     In  France,  the 


450  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

same  industry  is  to  be  found  in  the  upper  terrace  at  Saint-Prest  and 
Amiens  ;  also  at  Chelles  and  Cergy.  To  these  may  be  added 
Germany's  contribution  from  Rixdorff  and  from  Britz  and  Rudes- 
dorff,  near  BerHn.  Rutot  places  also  in  this  category  the  chipped 
flints  recently  discovered  by  Dr  G.  Schweinfurth  at  Thebes. 

The  present  valleys  were  begun  during  the  Middle  Pliocene. 
They  were  cut  deeper  during  the  Upper  Pliocene.  With  the 
Lower  Quaternary  or  Mosean,  the  cutting  was  localized  between 
the  upper  and  middle  terraces.  The  maximum  erosion  was  reached 
with  the  Campinian,  or  first  phase  of  the  Middle  Quaternary.  The 
valleys  were  subsequently  filled  to  the  extent  of  i  5  to  30  meters  in 
some  instances.  It  is  near  the  base  of  the  Campinian  that  Rutot 
has  found  what  he  considers  to  be  the  transition  from  the  Mesvin- 
ian  to  the  Chellean  —  in  other  words,  the  transition  from  the 
eolithic  to  the  paleolithic  period.  This  transition  epoch,  called  by 
Rutot  the  Mesvino-chellean,  is  important  from  the  point  of  view 
both  of  stratigraphy  and  technology,  and  represents  the  turn  in  the 
tide  of  the  affairs  of  primitive  man.  It  means  that  the  eolithic 
period  did  not  close  with  the  Tertiary,  as  de  Mortillet  believed,  but 
that  it  continued  on  through  the  Lower  into  the  Middle  Quaternary, 
as  Rutot  has  proved. 

A  good  example  of  the  character  of  the  evidence  on  which 
Rutot's  classification  rests  is  to  be  had  in  the  Exploitation  Helin, 
at  Spiennes,  near  Mons.  The  industry-bearing  Campinian  beds 
hitherto  studied  had  been  fused  into  one,  in  which  were  found 
a  melange  of  flint  chips  resembling  eoliths,  of  flint  nodules  only 
slightly  shaped  into  rude  amygdaloid  forms,  rude  Chellean  imple- 
ments with  base  formed  by  reserving  the  nodular  crust,  as  well  as 
the  classical  Chellean  and  Acheulian  types.  Were  these  all  vari- 
ous manifestations  of  one  and  the  same  industrial  epoch  ;  or  did 
they  represent  the  successive  steps  in  a  gradual  industrial  evolu- 
tion ?  The  answer  to  this  question  depended  on  finding  the  layers 
separated  stratigraphically,  a  condition  that  was  known  to  exist  at 
the  old  Exploitation  Helin,  phosphate  works  at  present  owned  by 
the  Societe  de  Saint-Gobain. 

By  permission  of  the  proprietors  and  authorization  of  the  direc- 
tor of  the  Royal  Natural  History  Museum,  Brussels,  a  thorough 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM 


451 


investigation  of  the  complete  section  was  made  in  October,  1902, 
under  the  personal  direction  of  Dr  Rutot.  Ikginning  at  the  bot- 
tom, the  section  (figure  18)  shows  the  following: 


Flinty  layer  (cailloutis)  with  Neolithic  in- 
dustry. 


FLANDRIAN' 


HESBAYAN 


CAMPINIAN 


MOSEIAN 


Flinty  layer  without  industry. 

^^^  Flinty  layer  with  Acheulian  industry. 

^^^  *—  Flinty  layer  with  Chellean  industry. 

■"        ^- "  Flinty  layer  with  transition  from  Eolithic  to 
^LfLUVIAL  SANDS  _     ^^  „         Paleolithic  (Strepyan  industry ). 

=J-^'iS^>'»S;S£5^;S~--?i=^*S'*^  Flinty  layer  with  Mesvinian  industry. 

SAND  AND    POTTERS  EARTH - 


:^     Flinty  layer  with  Reutelo-mesvinian  industry. 


Fig.  18. — Section  of  the  Exploitation  Helin,  near  Spiennes,  showing  the  super- 
position of  the  Quaternary  deposits  ;  lower  terrace  of  the  valley  of  the  Trouille  (after 
Rutot). 

1 .  Stony  deposit  at  the  base  of  the  Mosean  resting  on  the  Chalk  and 
containing  a  pure  Reutelo-mesvinian  industry  (the  Exploitation  Helin  is 
in  the  lower  terrace  of  the  Trouille  valley). 

2.  Fluvial  clays  and  sands,  without  industry. 

3.  Stony  layer  at  the  summit  of  the  Mosean,  with  pure  Mesvinian 
industry. 

4.  Stratified  fluvial  sands  that  in  neighboring  pits  have  furnished 
remains  of  the  mammoth. 

5.  A  thin,  irregular,  flinty  layer  with  the  transition  industry,  Mes- 
vino-chellean. 

6.  Fluvial  sands  irregularly  and  obliquely  stratified. 

7.  A  horizontal  flinty  layer,  with  the  well-known  Chellean  type  of 
implement. 

8.  Regularly  stratified  loam,  with  traces  of  vegetable  earth  at  the  top. 

9.  A  very  thin  flinty  layer,  with  typical  Acheulian  industry. 

10.  Hesbayan  clays. 


452  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,    1905 

11.  Thin  flinty  layer,  -without  industry. 

12.  Stratified  sands  and  clays  (ergeron). 

13.  Brick  earth. 

It  will  be  seen  that  all  five  divisions  of  the  Quaternary,  with  the 
exception  of  the  Brabantian  which  is  above  the  eolithic  zone,  are 
represented  in  section  at  the  Exploitation  Helin.  All  of  the  Qua- 
ternary eolithic  epochs  are  likewise  represented  here  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  oldest,  the  Reutelian. 

But  Rutot's  attention  was  centered  on  the  three  separated  indus- 
try-bearing Campinian  layers.  Would  they  each  furnish  one  of  the 
several  elements  composing  the  industry  already  found  elsewhere  in 
disturbed  Campinian  deposits  ?  They  did.  The  lowest  of  the  three 
(layer  no.  5)  contained  not  only  eoliths  of  the  Mesvinian  type,  but 
also  rude  implements  roughly  amygdaloid  in  shape,  selected  flint 
nodules  only  slightly  chipped  to  a  semblance  of  the  hache  type,  or 
the  poniard.  It  thus  answers  all  the  requirements  of  an  industry 
of  transition  between  that  of  the  Mesvinian  level  (no.  3)  and  that  of 
layer  number  7,  where  Rutot  found  the  classical  '^  cojip  de  poing." 
In  the  uppermost  of  these  three  layers  (no.  9)  were  specimens  of 
the  amygdaloid  and  hache  types,  carefully  chipped  on  both  sides 
until  the  margins  presented  almost  a  straight  line  as  opposed  to  the 
zigzag  margin  of  the  Chellean  implement  —  in  other  words  the  so- 
called  Acheulian  industry  of  M.  d'Ault  du  Mesnil  and  the  French 
school. 

These  Campinian  bands  consist  almost  exclusively  of  blocks  of 
flint  and  artificial  flint  chips.  They  form  what  is  known  in  England 
as  paleolithic  floors.  These  floors  had  been  so  little  disturbed  that 
both  Rutot  and  M.  E.  de  Munck  were  able  to  replace  numerous 
flakes  on  their  respective  cores,  building  up  in  this  manner  the 
original  flint  nodules  once  more.  All  the  edges  of  the  flakes  were  as 
sharp  as  they  would  be  had  the  chipping  been  done  only  yesterday. 

The  importance  of  the  discovery  of  a  transition  industry  between 
the  eolithic  period  representing  a  low  plane  of  mentality  reflecting 
practically  no  industrial  development,  and  the  paleolithic  period, 
signalized  by  a  gradual  evolution  both  mechanical  and  mental, 
cannot  well  be  overestimated.  The  data  gathered  at  the  Exploita- 
tion Helin  misfht  not  of  themselves  suffice  to  establish  the  existence 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  453 

of  a  transition  stage  ;  but  when  supplemented  by  the  rich  finds  along 
the  right  bank  of  the  Haine  between  Estinnes  and  Cronfestu,  notably 
at  Strepy,  IMauragc,  Trivieres,  and  Saint- Vaast,  the  cumulative  evi- 
dence is  irresistible.  The  industry,  in  fact,  is  so  abundant  and  char- 
acteristic at  Strepy  as  to  justify  Rutot's  proposal  of  the  name 
Strepyan  for  the  transition  epoch,  in  place  of  the  longer  term  Mes- 
vino-chellean. 

The  Exploitation  Helin,  with  its  separated,  industiy-bearing, 
Campinian  layers,  is  the  key  to  the  passage  from  the  eolithic  to  the 
paleolithic  period.  It  furnishes  the  solution  of  the  problem  of 
the  mixed  industries  occurring  at  various  localities  along  the  northern 
shore  of  the  Haine,  particularly  at  Strepy.  These  localities,  on  the 
other  hand,  have  furnished  the  transition  industry  in  far  greater 
quantities  and  variety  of  form.  The  gently  sloping  valley  facing 
the  southwest  being  exposed  to  the  prevailing  winds  and  rain- 
storms, the  beds  of  clay  have  disappeared.  The  result  is  that  two 
of  the  flinty  layers  are  fused  into  one.  The  probability  of  a  mix- 
ture of  industries  was  suggested  by  the  fact  that  two  kinds  of  flint 
were  utilized  :  (i)  small  nodules  of  a  green-coated  brown  flint,  and 
(2)  flakes  artificially  removed  from  large  nodules  of  beautiful  black 
flint.  By  placing  in  one  group  the  artifacts  of  brown  flint,  and  in 
another  those  of  black  flint,  Rutot  discovered  that  he  had  by  that 
act  separated  two  industries  as  perfectly  as  they  had  been  separated 
in  the  section  at  the  Exploitation  Helin.  There  were,  for  example, 
no  carefully  fashioned  implements  of  the  Acheulian  type  among  the 
brown  flints,  and  no  rude  Chellean  implements  among  the  black 
flints. 

The  almost  incredibly  rich  finds  made  at  Strepy  and  neighbor- 
ing localities  have  served  to  shed  new  light  on  the  uses  to  which 
the  artifacts  were  put.  The  first  unmistakable  weapons  are  placed 
by  Rutot  in  the  Strepyan  (transition  from  the  eolithic  to  the  paleo- 
lithic). The  eoliths  are  tools  and  not  weapons,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  the  small  fling-stones,  and  these  were  evidently  not 
weapons  of  defense,  being  used  only  in  the  chase. 

The  transition  industry  includes  hammer-stones,  scrapers,  and 
punches,  all  of  which  retain  eolithic  facies  while  undergoing  a  grad- 
ual evolution  in  form.     To  these   may  be  added  an  entirely  new 


454  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

series  of  implements  more  or  less  amygdaloid  in  shape,  i.  e.,  the 
primitive  Chellan  ''coup  de poingy 

Rutot's  ingenious  theory  as  to  the  origin  of  the  amygdaloid 
type  of  implement  is  given  here,  because  of  its  plausibility  and  be- 
cause I  had  arrived,  independently,  at  the  same  conclusion  after  a 
careful  study  of  the  transition  series  belonging  to  the  Yale  Museum. 
The  primitive  stage  is  the  rather  flat  flint  nodule,  with  more  or  less 
rounded  contours,  such  as  would  attract  one  in  search  of  a  ham- 
mer-stone. With  use,  small  chips  would  be  detached  from  a  sec- 
tion of  the  contour.  Some  would  be  removed  from  one  face,  and 
some  from  the  other,  as  the  aim  veered  to  the  right  or  to  the  left 
as  the  case  might  be.  This  would  result  in  an  irregular,  zigzag 
edge  for  which  uses  might  easily  arise.  By  bringing  an  adjacent 
section  of  the  contour  into  play  as  a  hammer-stone,  the  zigzag  edge 
could  be  extended  indefinitely.  The  specimens  show  that,  in  prac- 
tice, it  was  wise  to  reserve  the  original  handhold. 

An  excellent  example  to  illustrate  the  hammer-stone  origin  of 
the  almond-shaped  paleolithic  may  be  seen  in  figure  2  of  plate 
XXVIII,  B.  The  implement,  which  comes  from  Bray,  valley  of  the 
Haine,  is  a  flint  nodule  with  smooth  exterior.  About  one-half  has 
been  reserved  for  the  handle.  The  borders  of  the  other  half  are 
chipped  and  battered  by  hammer-like  blows.  The  flakes  removed 
being  blunt,  the  thickness  of  the  nodule  toward  the  center  is  not 
reduced,  and  the  worked  edges  are,  in  consequence,  quite  blunt. 
From  the  accidental  chipping  of  a  hammer-stone  in  use  to  further 
intentional  chipping  and  retouching,  with  a  view  of  rendering  the 
original  nodule  flatter  and  its  edges  straighter  and  sharper,  is  but  a 
step,  and  that  step  was  taken  as  soon  as  its  utility  became  evident. 

The  amygdaloid  impletjient  serves  equally  well  as  a  hatchet  or 
a  poniard,  and  is,  therefore,  an  excellent  all-round  weapon.  In  the 
meantime,  a  veritable  poniard  was  in  process  of  development.  It 
was  evolved  from  the  sub-cylindrical  flint  nodule.  A  few  well- 
directed  blows  at  one  extremity,  and  the  poniard  was  ready  for  ser- 
vice. Its  greater  length,  better  handhold,  and  sharper  point  ren- 
dered it  more  effective  for  thrusting  purposes  than  was  the  composite 
amygdaloid  implement.  Of  the  two  hundred  or  more  rude,  flint 
poniards  in    the  Brussels  collection,  some  have  very  serviceable, 


MACCUKDY]  THE  EOLITIflC  PROBLEM  455 

natural  guards,  the  maker  having  selected  a  nodule  with  an  en- 
largement at  the  proper  place  —  a  further  step  in  the  differentiation 
between  the  hilt  and  blade. 

Perhaps  no  better  intermediate  form  between  the  amygdaloid 
type  and  that  of  the  poniard  could  be  found  than  the  two  specimens 
illustrated  in  plate  xxix,  a.  They  are  enough  alike  to  have  been 
made  by  the  same  workman.  Figure  i  is  from  Milton  Street,  about 
lOO  feet  above  the  Thames  and  near  the  base  of  Swanscombe  hill 
(figure  15).  Figure  2  is  from  the  Shelly  gravel-pit  at  Swanscombe, 
which  is  very  near  Milton  Street  and  at  approximately  the  same 
level  above  the  Thames.  Both  were  given  to  me  by  Mrs  Stopes, 
whose  husband,  the  late  Henry  Stopes,  found  them  in  1900.  Each 
is  simply  a  sub-cylindrical  nodule,  chipped  at  one  end  to  a  blade- 
like, rather  sharp,  edge.  The  patina  of  the  chipped  surfaces  is 
especially  rich  and  glossy.  The  specimen  from  Milton  Street  is 
provided  w^ith  a  natural  hilt  that  fits  the  hand  perfectly  and  is  more 
suggestive  of  the  poniard  than  of  the  strictly  Chellean  type. 

The  implement  from  the  Shelly  gravel-pit  at  Swanscombe  has 
no  differentiated  hilt,  but  the  blade  near  the  point  is  chipped  so 
thin  as  to  make  it  admirably  adapted  for  use  as  an  instrument  of 
thrust.  It  was  associated  with  a  comparatively  rich  fauna,  includ- 
ing Elephas  antiquus,  Elephas  primigenius  and  Corbicula  fluminalis. 

The  mixed  character  of  the  fauna,  as  well  as  of  the  industry, 
leads  me  to  believe  that  the  industry  of  the  Shelly  gravel-pit  at 
Swanscombe  represents  both  the  eolithic  and  the  paleolithic. 

The  section  of  the  pit  that  has  yielded  so  many  fossils  and  stone 
implements  is  described  by  Mr  Stopes  as  "  stratified  sands  and 
gravels,  capped  by  a  thin  layer  of  tough  clay."  The  Shelly  bed  is 
10  feet  thick,  and  rests  upon  the  Chalk  at  a  level  of  78  feet  above 
the  sea.  In  it  were  found  the  implements  also  ;  but  whether  at  a 
single  level  or  at  various  levels  is  not  stated. 

I  have  compared  a  list  of  the  Shelly  gravel-pit  ^  fauna  with 
those  furnished  by  Rutot  for  the  deposits  at  Erith  and  Menche- 
court,  each  in  a  lower  terrace  ;  and  that  by  Laville  for  Cergy,  also 
in  a  lower  terrace,  only  7  meters  above  the  mean  water-level  of  the 
Oise.     The  results  are  as  follows  : 


1  Mrs  Stopes  in  Report  Brit.  Assoc,  for  the  Adv.  of  Science,  Southport,  1903. 


456  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [x.  s.,  7,  1905 

IVIaimmalia. 
Cervus  elephas,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Menchecourt. 

Elephas  antiquus,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Menchecourt,  Cergy. 

Elephas  primigenius,        Swanscombe,  Erith,  Menchecourt,  Cergy. 

Equus  cabalhis,  Swanscombe,  Menchecourt,  

Rhinoceros  leptorhinus,  Swanscombe,  Cergy/ 

Sus  scrofa       Swanscombe Menchecourt,  Cergy. 

MOLLUSCA. 

Carychium  minimum,  Swanscombe,  Cergy. 

Helix  nemoralis,  Swanscombe,  Cergy. 

Limnasa  auricularia,  Swanscombe,  Cergy. 

Limn?ea  peregra,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  

Limna^a  palustris,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  

Planorbis  spirorbis,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Cergy. 

Bithinia  tentaculata,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Menchecourt,   Cergy. 

Valvata  piscinalis,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Cergy. 

Valvata  cristata,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  

Unio  littoralis,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  

Corbicula  fluminalis,  Swanscombe,  Erith, Cergy. 

Sphrericum  corneum,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  

Pisidium  amnicum,  Swanscombe,  Erith,  Cergy. 

Out  of  19  selected  species  from  the  Shelly  gravel-pit  at  Swans- 
combe, 13  are  found  at  Erith,  6  at  Menchecourt,  and  12  at  Cergy, 
The  species  common  to  all  four  stations  are  :  Elephas  antiquus, 
Elephas  primigenius,  and  Bithinia  tentaculata  ;  while  those  common 
to  Swanscombe,  Erith,  and  Cergy,  would  increase  this  list  by 
Planorbis  spirorbis,  Valvata  piscinalis,  Corbicula  fluminalis,  and 
Pisidium  amnicum. 

The  fauna  of  Elephas  antiquus  is  characteristic  of  eolithic 
horizons  ;  that  of  Elephas  primigenius  is  preeminently  paleolithic 
in  its  associations.  Bithinia  tentaculata  and  Corbicula  fluminalis 
have  a  wider  range  in  point  of  time. 

As  regards  the  industrial  remains,  Mrs  Stopes  mentions  imple- 
ments of  the  Acheulian  and  Chellean  types  ;  also  discs,  fling-stones, 
scrapers,  spoke-shaves,  punches,  etc.,  many  of  them  with  eolithic 
facias. 

Among  the  weapons  of  this  transition  epoch  may  be  mentioned 

1  Probably  the  same  species. 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  457 

the  cassc-tctes  formed  of  flint  nodules,  the  natural  shapes  of  which 
lent  themselves  readily  to  such  uses.  The  specimen  from  Bray- 
illustrated  in  plate  xxix,  b,  is  an  example  of  this  class.  The  only- 
breaks  in  the  crust  of  the  club-like  flint  nodule  are  the  two  on  the 
side  and  extremity  of  the  club-end,  respectively.  At  both  these 
places  blunt  edges  have  been  produced  by  approximately  direct 
blows.  The  implement  was  held  like  a  club  to  produce  the  chip- 
ping at  the  side  ;  and  like  a  pestle  to  produce  that  at  the  extremity. 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  spend  eleven  days  with  Rutot  during 
the  latter  part  of  July,  1903.  Our  time  w^as  divided  equally  be- 
tween Rutot's  collections  in  the  Royal  Museum  of  Natural  History 
and  the  field.  The  collection,  numbering  thousands  of  specimens, 
was  not  yet  on  exhibition,  the  handsome  and  commodious  new 
wing  of  the  Museum  where  it  was  to  be  placed  not  being  finished. 
The  installation,  however,  in  M.  Rutot's  office  was  such  as  to  render 
possible  a  thorough  examination,  not  only  of  each  piece  but  also 
of  large  groups,  for  comparative  study  of  the  various  geological 
horizons. 

The  careful  coordination  of  museum-  and  field-work  was  every- 
where evident.  Both  had  been  truthfully  reflected  in  Rutot's 
numerous  publications.  The  latter  were  already  familiar  to  me, 
and  my  object  in  visiting  Belgium  was  not  so  much  for  verification 
of  a  master's  work  as  for  guidance  by  that  master.  iMy  host's  first 
words  were  :  "  II  f ant  ctre  guide,"  and  my  experiences  for  the  next 
ten  days  proved  the  truth  of  his  assertion. 

We  first  visited  Binche,  the  headquarters  of  that  veteran  col- 
lector, M.  N.  Dethise,  and  in  the  course  of  the  day  walked  as  far 
north  as  Leval.  In  the  railway  cut  at  Ressaix-Trieu  there  is  an 
instructive  section  showing  Lower  Eocene  sands  with  superimposed 
Mosean,  Hesbayan,  and  Flandrian  deposits.  The  flinty  layer  at  the 
base  of  the  Mosean  yielded  Reutelian  implements,  and  that  at 
its  summit  both  IMesvinian  and  Chellean  implements.  As  may  be 
seen  in  the  section  (figure  19),  these  two  implementiferous  layers 
merge  into  one  where  the  Mosean  fails,  thus  causing  a  melange 
of  industries. 

Near  the  railway  station  at  Leval,  the  surface  of  the  fields  slop- 
ing   toward    the   southwest   are   covered    with   flints    left   exposed 

AM.    AXTH.  N.  S.,  ^ — 31 


OF  THE  ^- 


UNIVERSITY  I 


458 


AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST 


[n.  s.,  7,  1905 


through  denudation.  Here  we  found  an  industry  representing  the 
transition  from  the  eoHthic  to  the  paleoHthic.  It  is  one  of  those 
gently  sloping  surfaces  facing  the  southwest,  and  thus  receiving  the 
full  benefit  of  the  prevailing  winds  and  rains.  The  intercalating 
beds  of  clay  having  been  washed  away,  the  surface  of  the  field  is 
covered  with  what  has  been  aptly  called  tapis  de  silcx,  resting  on 
an  outcrop  of  Chalk.  Here  was  found  the  rude  poniard  figured  in 
plate  xxviii,  B,  fig.  I.  It  is  a  simple  nodule  of  parti-colored  flint, 
with  a  white  crust.  One  extremity  was  roughly  chipped  to  a 
point.  Two  or  three  prominences  had  been  removed  from  the 
opposite  end  so  as  to  make  it  fit  the  hand  comfortably.  A  single 
stroke  served  not  only  to  remove  a  projection  near  the  base,  but 
also   to   reduce   the   circumference  at   this   point,  thus   tending   to 


Fig.  19.  — Section  in  the  railway  cut  at  Ressaix-Trieu  (from  a  sketch  made  in  the 
field).  F,  Flandrian  (Upper  Quaternary).  H,  Hesbayan  (INIiddle  Quaternary).  AI, 
Mosean  (Lower  Quaternary),  with  Reutelian  implements  at  its  base  and  Mesvinian 
and  Chellean  implements  at  its  summit.      T,  Lower  Eocene. 

produce  a  guard.  A  sharp  edge  left  by  the  removal  of  the  flake 
in  question  was  reduced  by  means  of  many  slight  blows  or  re- 
touches so  as  not  to  cut  the  hand. 

We  spent  another  day  at  Ecaussines-Carrieres,  largely  for  the 
purpose  of  becoming  familiarized  with  the  various  Quaternary 
deposits.  Perhaps  the  best  section  exposed  was  that  in  the  Thiar- 
mont  quarry  (figure  20).  It  shows  how  the  pockets  in  the  old 
eroded  surface  of  the  Carboniferous  limestone  are  filled  with  Wealden 
deposits,  over  which  is  spread  the  Mosean.  Above  the  Mosean 
come,  in  turn,  the  Hesbayan  (Loess),  the  Brabantian,  Flandrian, 
and  brick -earth.  This  section  shows  the  contact  of  the  Brabantian 
clays  on  the  one  hand  with  the  underlying  Hesbayan  mantle,  and 
on  the   other,  with  the  superimposed  Flandrian  deposits.     Rutot 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM 


459 


believes  that  the  Brabantian  (eolian)  was  not  an  epoch  favorable  to 
human  existence,  and  yet  there  is  some  evidence  tending  to  show 
that  the  Eburnean  races  penetrated  Belgium  at  that  time. 

The  most  interesting  excursion  of  the  series  was  the  one  to 
Harmignies,  Spiennes,  and  the  Exploitation  Helin,  near  Spiennes, 
which  were  reached  by  way  of  Mons.  There  are  interesting  sec- 
tions in  two  railway  cuts  between  Mons  and  Harmignies.  The  one 
nearest  Mons,  the  Mesvin  cut,  furnished  the  first  eoliths  to  be  found 


Fig.  20.' — Section  of  Thiarmont  quarry  at  Ecaussines-Carrieres,  forming  the  lower 
terrace  of  the  Sennette  valley  (from  a  sketch  made  in  the  field).  A,  Brick-earth.  B, 
Stratified  sandy  clay  ("ergeron"),  Flandrian.  C,  Thin  flinty  layer.  D,  Pulverulent 
non-stratified  clays  of  eolian  origin,  Brabantian.  E,  Stratified  clay,  Hesbayan.  F,  Stony 
layer.  G,  Fluvial  sands,  obliquely  stratified,  with  intercalated  seams  of  gravel,  Mosean. 
H,  Stony  layer  with  fragments  of  phthanite.      K,  Carboniferous  limestone. 

in  Belgium,  and  gave  its  name  to  the  Mesvinian  epoch  of  the  eolithic 
period.  In  the  other  may  still  be  seen  the  pits  sunk  in  neolithic 
times  to  obtain  the  fresh  flint  used  in  the  manufacture  of  chipped 
and  polished  implements. 

From  Harmignies  we  returned  on  foot  along  the  railway,  by 
special  permission.      Leaving  the  railway  at  the   crossing   of  the 


460  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

highway  which  leads  in  a  northwesterly  direction  to  Mons,  we  soon 
reached  the  level  of  a  middle  terrace,  25  and  more  meters  above 
the  bed  of  the  Trouille  river.  It  was  here  that  M.  E.  de  Munck 
discovered  recently  a  spread  of  eoliths  belonging  to  the  Reutelian 
epoch. 

As  the  surface  slopes  gently  toward  the  southwest,  the  upper 
layers  of  the  terrace  have  disappeared,  leaving  the  flinty  layer  at  its 
base  exposed.  This  layer  rests  on  the  Chalk,  the  surface  of  which 
was  eroded  during  Mosean  times.  Between  the  sand-filled  gullies 
in  the  Chalk  is  found  the  spread  of  flints,  many  of  them  showing 
unmistakable  traces  of  utilization.  The  locality  is  especially  noted 
for  polyhedral  fling-stones  and  hammer-stones,  the  latter  bearing 
evidence  of  having  seen  much  service. 

After  being  told  where  to  look,  my  search  was  rewarded.  The 
first  find  was  a  typical  Reutelian  hammer-stone  (plate  xxvi,  b, 
fig.  4),  characteristic  also  of  that  particular  locality,  since  it  bore 
marks  of  having  been  much  used.  It  is  a  flint  nodule  that  had 
been  but  slightly  altered  by  chance  flaking  before  being  utilized. 
Only  one  of  the  old  surfaces  of  fracture  has  been  preserved.  The 
rest  of  the  exterior  either  retains  the  original  nodular  crust  or  has 
been  modified  by  artificial  chipping.  One  end  and  one  margin  are 
thoroughly  battered  by  use.  The  crest  of  the  battered  margin  is 
zigzag  in  its  course,  showing  how  the  chips  came  off,  first  on  one 
side  and  then  on  the  other,  due  to  the  uncertainty  of  landing  a  blow 
true  with  a  stone  whose  transverse  diameter  is  less  than  half  that 
of  the  diameter  in  the  same  plane  with  the  direction  of  the  blow 
that  is  dealt.  The  other  end  and  margin  show  no  evidence  of 
having  given  or  received  perpendicular  blows.  They  were  adapted 
to  the  hand  simply  by  the  removal  of  a  few  flakes. 

I  found  several  other  Reutelian  implements  before  we  left  the 
terrace  above  Harmignies.  Only  two  of  these  are  figured  (plate 
xxvi,  B,  figs.  I  and  2).  Figure  2  is  a  very  interesting  specimen. 
It  is  a  natural  flake  with  a  little  crust  left  on  the  outer  surface. 
The  inner  surface  is  weathered  white  and  is  in  rather  sharp  contrast 
with  the  fresher  appearing  worked  margins.  The  heel  and  the 
greater  part  of  one  margin  are  left  untouched.  The  other  margin 
and  the  point  are  carefully  retouched.     For  a  part  of  the  way  the 


MACCURDY]  rilE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM  46 1 

worked  margin  is  chipped  on  both  sides.  Near  the  base,  or  heel, 
a  notch  has  been  carefully  retouched,  on  one  side  only,  to  form  a 
scraper  of  the  spoke-shave  type.  Figure  i  is  one  of  the  polyhedral 
fling-stones,  which,  like  the  oft-used  hammer-stones,  are  character- 
istic of  the  locality  in  question.  It  may  be  recalled  that  similar 
stones  were  found  on  the  Chalk  plateau.  A  Reutelian  scraper 
(fig.  3)  from  Bois  d'Epinois,  valley  of  the  Haine,  near  Binche,  the 
gift  of  Dr  Rutot,  is  grouped  with  the  Harmignies  specimens  for 
convenience.  It  is  a  natural  flake  of  flint,  quadrangular  in  shape, 
the  only  sharp  margin  of  which,  after  being  dulled  by  use,  has 
been  retouched  with  a  view  to  further  utilization.  The  Yale 
Museum  is  also  indebted  to  Dr  Rutot  for  a  valuable  series  repre- 
senting the  various  eolithic  horizons  as  well  as  the  transition  to  the 
paleolithic. 

Leaving  the  Reutelian  station  above  Harmignies,  we  traversed 
the  famous  Champs  a  cayoux  and  picked  up  a  number  of  neolithic 
implements,  including  nuclei  and  flakes.  These  are  from  the 
ancient  workshops  that  once  covered  an  area  of  more  than  120 
acres.  The  locality  first  came  into  notice  in  1840  through  the  re- 
searches of  M.  Albert  Tolliez.  Twenty  years  later  Tolliez  dis- 
covered that  the  fresh  flint  nodules,  utilized  in  the  manufacture  of 
implements,  came  from  galleries  in  the  Chalk,  reached  by  means  of 
pits  sunk  through  the  Quaternary  deposits  and  Tertiary  sands. 
The  discovery  was  confirmed  in  1867,  w^hen  the  new  railway  from 
Mons  to  Charleroi,  via  Harmignies,  was  cut  through  the  Champs 
a  cayous,  laying  bare  no  fewer  than  twenty-five  of  these  pits. 

Finished  implements,  as  well  as  those  in  the  rough,  nuclei  and 
flakes,  have  found  their  way  from  the  sites  of  these  ancient  work- 
shops to  museums  in  almost  every  land.  The  Yale  Museum  being 
an  exception,  and  the  supply  being  not  yet  exhausted,  our  collect- 
ing bags  grew  perceptibly  heavier  before  we  reached  the  village  of 
Spiennes  and  turned  northward  on  our  way  across  fields  to  the 
Exploitation  Helin,  in  the  direction  of  Saint-Symphorien. 

The  section  at  the  Exploitation  Helin  has  been  already  described 
(figure  18).  Having  become  somewhat  familiar  with  the  aspect  of 
the  Belgian  series  of  Quaternary  deposits  by  a  study  of  sections  in 
various  localities,  notably  at  Ressaix  and  in  the  Thiarmont  quarry 


462  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

at  Ecaussines-carrieres,  I  was  able  to  recognize  the  superimposed 
beds  in  the  pits  of  HeHn  without  much  assistance  from  Dr  Rutot. 
Of  the  specimens  illustrated  in  plates  xxvii,  b,  and  xxviii,  a,  some 
were  found  by  Dr  Rutot  and  some  by  myself.  All  are  from  the 
flinty  layer  at  the  top  of  the  Mosean.  The  specimens  in  plate  xxvii, 
B,  have  been  retouched,  are  slightly  weathered,  and  show  marks  of 
wear,  in  part,  no  doubt,  from  use,  and  in  part,  it  may  be,  from  natural 
causes.  Figure  i  of  this  plate  shows  a  rather  flat,  artificial  flake 
with  the  original  greenish  crust  intact  over  the  outer  surface.  The 
margins  are  carefully  worked  on  both  sides  of  the  blunt,  beak-like 
apex.  Figure  2  is  likewise  an  artificial  flake  with  prominent  bulb 
of  percussion.  The  two  margins  that  lead  to  the  sharp  projection 
are  retouched,  but  on  opposite  sides.  This  reverse  working  pro- 
duces a  point  that  might  well  have  been  used  as  a  reamer.     Figure 

3  represents  a  type  of  implement  common  to  the  eolithic  period, 
but  very  rare  in  the  paleolithic.  It  was  used  to  retouch  the  dulled 
edges  of  flint  flakes ;  hence  the  name  retoucJwir  given  to  it  by  Rutot. 
The  piece  in  question  is  a  prismoid  flint  flake,  the  thinnest  mar- 
gin of  which  has  been  reduced  in  certain  places  by  use.     Figure 

4  is  an  artificial  flake  that  has  retained  the  outer  crust.  The  ap- 
proximately straight  edge  is  retouched  from  one  side  only  and 
along  its  entire  length. 

The  specimens  figured  in  plate  xxviii,  a,  are  all  non-utilized 
pieces.  The  surfaces  of  fracture  are  perfectly  fresh,  and  the  edges 
and  corners  are  neither  retouched  nor  worn.  Figures  1-2  are  arti- 
ficial flakes,  and  figure  3  is  a  core  from  which  several  flakes  have 
been  artificially  removed. 

It  is  fitting  to  close  with  the  Exploitation  Helin  for  two  reasons  : 
(i)  It  contains  in  undisturbed  section  all  the  Belgian  Quaternary 
deposits  except  one,  and  that  one,  the  Brabantian,  is  above  the 
eolithic  zone  ;  (2)  In  its  superimposed  beds  have  been  found  im- 
plements representing  every  eolithic  epoch  with  the  exception  of 
the  Reutelian,  at  the  bottom  of  the  Belgian  series.  It  is,  therefore, 
of  itself  the  best  resume  of  the  eolithic  problem,  being,  as  it  is,  an 
epitome  of  the  stratigraphic  evidence  on  which  the  solution  of  the 
question  depends  so  largely.  To  complete  the  stratigraphic  evi- 
dence one  has  only  to  turn  to  the  lowest  beds  of  the  middle  ter- 


X 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM  ■  463 

races  in  such  sections  as  that  near  Ypres,  valley  of  the  Lys,  or  at 
Salzinnes  les-Namur,  valley  of  the  Sambre. 

But  stratigraphy  alone  is  of  no  avail  unless  the  specimens  them- 
selves are  recognized  as  artifacts.  The  arguments  in  favor  of  their 
acceptance  as  such  have  been  given  at  length  in  discussing  the 
plateau  specimens  from  England.  If  further  evidence  along  this 
line  be  required,  the  reader  is  referred  to  Rutot's  papers  entitled, 
"  Les  actions  naturelles  possibles  sont  inaptes  a  produire  des  effets 
semblables  a  la  retouche  intentionelle,"  ^  and  "  Sur  la  cause  de 
r  eclatement  naturel  du  silex."-  Lack  of  space  renders  it  impossi- 
ble to  enter  here  into  the  details  of  Rutot's  experiments  and  argu- 
ments, proving  the  inadequacy  of  the  possible,  natural,  and  acci- 
dental causes  that  might  be  invoked  as  apt  to  produce  the  effect  of 
intentional  working.  The  natural  causes  are:  (i)  Change  of  tem- 
perature, (2)  torrential  action,  (3)  action  of  the  waves  of  the  sea, 
and  (4)  the  settling  or  sinking  of  the  beds  in  question. 

Prestwich  had  also  given  this  subject  much  attention.  His  chief 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  plateau  specimens  could  not  have  been 
shaped  by  natural  causes  were  :  (i)  That  they  admit  of  arrange- 
ment into  definite  groups  based  on  form  ;  (2)  the  parallelism  of 
the  flakes  struck  off  is  the  result  of  intention  and  not  of  accident ; 
(3)  many  of  the  forms  are  suggestive  of  definite  uses  as  tools  and 
implements  ;  (4)  the  character  of  the  work  is  the  same  for  those  of 
which  the  uses  appear  obscure.  But  the  advocates  of  the  artificial 
nature  of  these  specimens  are  not  called  on  to  find  a  use  for  every 
type  of  implement.  We  are  reminded  by  Abbott  that  if  the  only 
boomerangs  in  existence  were  fossil  boomerangs,  it  would  take  an 
expert  guesser  to  hit  upon  the  use  to  which  we  happen  to  know 
they  are  put.  So  certain  was  Prestwich  in  his  exclusion  of  natural- 
cause  theories,  particularly  the  effects  of  wave-action,  that  he  offered 
the  two  volumes  of  his  Geology  for  half  a  dozen  shore  flints  (not 
derived)  of  any  of  the  plateau  types  figured  in  plates  v  to  ix,  of  his 
"  Collected  Papers  on  some  Controverted  Questions  of  Geology." 

Mr  W.  J.  Lewis  Abbott,  himself  an  expert  judge  of  precious  and 
semi-precious  stones,  has  experimented  much  in  the  working    of 

'^  Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  1902,  XX. 
2  Ibid.,  1904,  xxni. 


464  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

flint,  and  knows,  as  well  as  any  one,  the  limitations  imposed  on 
the  range  of  effects  produced  by  natural  or  accidental  causes.  One 
of  the  implements  he  found  in  the  Elephas  deposits  of  the  Cromer 
beds  showed  "  a  well  marked  crailhcrcJ'  He  has  made  •'  thousands 
of  experiments  of  fixing  flints  and  pitching  round  pebbles  at  them, 
and  thus  removing  flakes."  He  adds  :  "  By  special  suspension  ar- 
rangements, I  was  able  to  administer  any  number  of  blows  at  any 
particular  spot  with  various  degrees  of  force ;  but  I  was  never  able 
to  produce  this  scar  {crailhirc)  in  any  way  in  which  it  may  be  con- 
ceived Nature  worked."  Another  set  of  experiments  included  the 
placing  of  flints,  fixed  and  otherwise,  at  the  bottom  of  a  long,  in- 
clined trough  and  letting  stones  slide  down  upon  them  ;  but  "  always 
with  a  negative  result."  On  the  other  hand,  when  he  has  "tried 
to  make  a  clean  chop  off  a  mineral,"  he  was  always  "annoyed  by  a 
characteristic  kick,  giving  rise  to  the  erailhtre.'"  Abbott  explains  that 
when  one  wishes  to  deal  a  blow  in  a  definite  direction  and  in  a  given 
spot,  the  concentration  of  muscular  power  to  land  the  blow  on 
"  that  particular  spot,  and  even  to  keep  the  hammer  there,"  occa- 
sions a  secondary  blow,  produced  by  the  voluntary  muscular  op- 
position to  the  rebound.  The  same  phenomenon  results  when  one 
attempts  to  drive  a  nail  in  an  awkward  place  by  a  series  of  delib- 
erate blows,  each  of  which  will  be  followed  by  a  second,  involun- 
tary tap.  It  is  this  tap  that  removes  the  small  flake  from  the  bulb 
of  percussion  and  produces  the  well-known  crailhire.  This,  Abbott 
considers  of  more  importance  than  the  bulb  of  percussion  itself,  and 
indubitable  proof  of  an  intentionally  directed  blow.  The  bulb  of  per- 
cussion on  one  of  the  non- utilized  artificial  flakes  (plate  xxviii,  a, 
fig.  2)  from  the  Mesvinian  level  in  the  Exploitation  Helin  is  marked 
by  a  characteristic  crailhire. 

The  recognition  of  eoliths  as  artifacts,  and  the  determination  of 
the  geological  horizons  where  they  are  found  in  situ,  pave  the  way 
to  the  development  of  systems  of  relative  chronology  and  a  special 
terminology.  I  have  referred  already  to  the  de  Mortillet  system 
(page  426)  which  provided  for  an  eolithic  period.  But  I  have  endeav- 
ored to  show  that  priority  in  the  use  of  that  term  belongs  to  Mr  J. 
Allen  Brown  —  a  fact  in  the  history  of  the  science  worthy  of  empha- 
sis, especially  since  the   credit  is  generally  given  to  de  Mortillet. 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLJ TI/IC  PR OBL EM  4^ 5 


Rutot,  for  example,  says:'  "  Le  mot  servant  a  caracteriser  I'idee, 
si  importante,  de  I'existence  do  toute  une  loiigue  serie  d'industrics 
primitives  anterieures  au  Palcolithique  est  trouve  depuis  longtemps, 
et  c'est  G.  de  Mortillet  qui,  croyons-nous,  I'a  proposer  Ic  premier, 
c'est  le  mot  eolithique."  Another  author  has  made  the  same  mis- 
take in  an  important  work  that  appeared  only  this  year.  M.  A. 
Doigneau,  whose  book  ^  I  reviewed  for  the  Amcvican  Anthropologist^ 
says  :  "  On  accepta  definitivement  le  nom  de  Eolithique  (aurore  de 
la  pierre)  deja  precedement  propose  par  G.  de  Mortillet,  pour 
designer  I'epoque  qui  preceda  celle  de  Chelles  et  pendant  laquelle 
naquit  I'industrie  de  la  pierre."  My  statement  (on  page  426)  of 
J.  Allen  Brown's  claims  to  priority  was  written  before  the  two  works 
of  Rutot  and  Doigneau,  respectively,  were  published ;  which  is  my 
reason  for  emphasizing  it  here. 

De  Mortillet's  provisions  for  an  eolithic  period  were  so  meager 
and  uncertain  that  little  except  an  historical  significance  attaches  to 
them  now.  It  could  hardly  have  been  otherwise.  The  wonder  is 
that  he  built  so  well,  working  almost  wholly  in  the  dark  and  against 
the  dominant  views  of  his  time. 

Rutot  profited  both  by  the  successes  and  the  failures  of  his  fore- 
runner. His  system,  which  covers  all  the  periods  of  the  stone  age, 
is  reproduced  in  extenso.  Attention  is  directed  particularly  to  the 
part  dealing  with  the  eolithic  period,  which  is  preeminently  his  own 
and  which  was  built  up  gradually  in  the  light  of  long  and  pains- 
taking investigations.  I  have  added  the  Dewlish  industry  to  his 
classification,  associating  it  with  that  of  the  Cromer  Forest-bed  and 
Saint-Prest.  Archibald  Geikie'  is  my  authority  for  placing  the 
Dewlish  gravels  with  the  Cromer  Forest-bed  group.  Both  are 
referred  to  the  same  horizon  in  the  Upper  Pliocene,  and  both  are 
estuarine  and  fresh-water  deposits.  Thus  the  synchronism  between 
the  industrial  remains  found  by  Abbott  near  East  Runton,  Norfolk, 
and  those  taken  by  Dr  Blackmore  from  the  Dewlish  gravels,  in 
Dorset,  is  established. 

1  Le  prehistorique  dans  1' Europe  centrale.  Extrait  du  C.-R.  du  Congr.  d'archiol.  et 
d^hist.,  Dinant,  1903,  p.  244. 

^  Nos  ancBtres  primitifs,  Paris,  1 905,  p.  36. 

3  Vol.  VII,    1905,  p.    120. 

*  Text-book  of  Geology,  4th  ed.,  1903,  p.  12S1. 


466 


AMERICAN  ANTHR OPOL  O GIST 


[N.  s.,  7,  1905 


W 
O 

< 

w 
z 
o 

H 

M 
33 
H 

ffi 
O 


2  Q 

O       H 

u 

fa 

o 


CO 


H 

u 

5 

0 

Present 
Fauna, 

Robenhausian. 

Campignian  and  Tardenoisian. 

Tourassian. 

>- 

<1 
IS 
Pi 

w 

H 
< 

Retreat. 

Q 
0 

u 

Oh 
U 

5 

0 

►J 

Tarandian  Industry. 

Advance. 

go; 

Retreat. 

If 

Eburnean  Industry. 

Advance. 

< 
u 

en 

Retreat. 

Mousterian  Industry. 

Advance. 

Acheulian  Industry. 
Chellean  Industry. 
Mesvino-chellean  or  Strepyan  In- 
dustry (Strepy,  Belgium). 

►J 
<: 

I-!    0 

Retreat. 

Q 
0 

5 
5 

H 

►J 
0 

w 

Fauna 

of  Elephas 

antiquus. 

MesvinianInd.(Mesvin,  Belgium). 
Reutelo-mesvinian  f  Maffle  near 
orMafflean Industry  \  Ath, Belgium. 

Advance. 

Reutelian  Industry  (Reutel, 
Belgium). 

> 
a; 

z 

0 
P-. 

Upper. 

Ind. ,  Cromer  Forest  Bed  (Norfolk). 

Industry  of  Dewlish  (Dorset). 
Industry  of  Saint-Prest  (France). 

Middle 
(Glacial.) 

Industry  of  the  Chalk  Plateau  (England). 

Lower. 

z 

Upper. 

1      i  i 

S  "^-S  "S;    Industry  of  Puy-Courny  (France). 

Middle 
Lower. 

u 
z 

0 

0 

0 
■  J 

0 

Upper. 

2      ?  II 

a  "^  5  >      Industry  of  Thenay  ?  (France). 

Middle 
Lower. 

z 

u 
0 

>"     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


maccurdy]  the  EOLITIIIC  PJROBLEM  467 

Rutot  has  more  recently  attempted  to  adapt  a  time-scale,  based 
on  the  measure  of  the  advance  and  retreat  of  glaciers,  to  his  system 
of  epochs.  The  values  of  that  portion  dealing  with  the  divisions  of 
the  eolithic  period  are  as  follows  : 

Reutelian  epoch  25,000  years. 

Mafflean        "  ^         12,500     " 
Mesvinian     "  12,500     " 

Strepyan       "     (transition)  5,000     " 

Paleolithic  period  84,000     " 

The  above  estimate  would  give  139,000  years  as  the  duration 
of  the  Quaternary,  a  figure  not  considered  excessive  in  the  light  of 
various  estimates  placed  on  the  duration  of  the  earlier  geologic 
periods. 

Conclusions 

A  study  of  the  Rutot  classification  renders  needless  anything 
more  than  the  briefest  summary.  We  have  endeavored  to  give  the 
problem  a  setting  such  as  would  bring  into  relief  its  nature  and 
import.  While  in  reality  the  first  of  the  stone-age  periods,  the 
eolithic  is  the  last  to  receive  recognition. 

To  be  readily  acceptable,  an  idea  must  not  run  counter  to  prej- 
udice. It  must  be  stated  with  clearness  and  authority  and  at  the 
right  time.  The  right  time  does  not  mean  after  there  is  no  longer 
prejudice.  It  means  rather  the  moment  that  the  originator  of  the 
idea  is  able  to  find  one,  or,  better,  several  advocates  who  can  speak 
with  an  authority  equal  to  his  own.  In  Law^  the  truth  is  not 
established  by  the  mouth  of  one  witness  only.  Similar  safeguards 
should  protect  a  growing  science. 

The  idea  of  a  primitive  industiy  antedating  the  Chellean  was 
proclaimed  not  only  at  a  time  when  it  ran  counter  to  prejudice,  but 
also  before  it  could  be  stated  with  clearness  and  authority.  The 
importance  of  the  Abbe  Bourgeois's  discoveries  at  Thenay  in  1867 
are  still  open  to  question ;  but  the  measure  of  his  prophetic  vision 
finds  abundant  expression  in  present-day  fulfilment.  Bourgeois 
supposed  that  he  had  found  artifacts  in  the  Oligocene.  He  may 
have  been  mistaken.  It  did  not  matter  much,  so  long  as  his 
attempt  inspired  further  effort.  Rames  came  along  later  and  did 
find  artifacts  in  the  Upper  Miocene  at  Puy-Courny.     Before  Rames 


468  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

made  known  his  discovery,  Harrison  had  begun  to  find  worked 
flints  on  the  North  Downs  of  Kent ;  so  that  the  time  to  speak  the 
word  of  authority  was  to  come  with  Rutot's  lucid  presentation  of 
the  combined  evidence,  based  on  stratigraphy,  paleontology,  and 
technology. 

The  importance,  then,  of  verification  cannot  be  too  strongly 
emphasized.  But  there  are  two  kinds  of  verification  :  that  which 
is  done  by  a  third  party  and  that  which  one  does  himself  Personal 
v^erification  is,  naturally,  the  most  convincing.  To  make  this 
supreme  test  before  passing  judgment  on  so  important  a  question, 
I  spent  considerable  time  both  in  Belgium  and  in  the  South  of 
England. 

The  question  does  not  admit  of  profitable  study  in  any  other 
way.  My  opinion,  based  on  personal  experience,  is  given  simply 
as  such.  y4t  is  that  the  existence  of  a  primitive  industry,  antedating 
what  is  commonly  accepted  as  paleolithic,  has  been  established. 
This  industry  occurs  as  far  back  as  the  Upper  Miocene  and  con- 
tinues on  through  the  Upper  Tertiary  into,  and  including,  the  Lower 
Quaternary.  The  distinguishing  characters  of  the  industry  remain 
but  little  changed  throughout  the  entire  period,  the  subdivision  of 
the  period  into  epochs  being  based  on  stratigraphy  and  not  on 
industrial  characters.  The  requirements  in  the  way  of  tools  being 
very  simple  and  the  supply  of  material  in  the  way  of  natural  flakes 
and  fragments  of  flint  being  very  plentiful,  the  inventive  powers  of 
the  population  remained  dormant  for  ages.  Hammer  and  knife 
were  the  original  tools.  Both  were  picked  up  ready-made.  A 
sharp-edged,  natural  flake  served  for  one,  and  a  nodule  or  fragment 
served  for  the  other.  When  the  edge  of  the  flake  became  dulled 
by  use,  the  piece  was  either  thrown  away  or  the  edge  was  retouched 
for  further  use.  If  hammer  or  flake  did  not  admit  of  being  held 
comfortably  in  the  hand,  the  troublesome  points  or  edges  were 
removed  or  reduced  by  chipping.  The  stock  of  tools  increased 
slowly  with  the  slowly  growing  needs.  As  these  multiplied,  and 
the  natural  supply  of  raw  material  diminished,  the  latter  was  supple- 
mented by  the  manufacture  of  artificial  flakes.  When  the  lesson 
of  associating  definite  forms  of  implements  with  definite  uses  was 
learned,  special  types  arose,  notably  the  amygdaloid  implement  and 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITIIIC  PROBLEM  469 

the  poniard.  Then  came  the  transition  from  the  eoHthic  to  the 
paleoUthic,  a  stage  that  has  been  so  thoroughly  investigated  by 
Rutot. 

Finally,  in  the  preparation  of  this  paper,  I  was  enabled  to  settle 
a  question  of  priority  by  discovering  that  it  was  J.  Allen  Brown, 
and  not  Gabriel  de  INIortillet,  who  first  proposed  the  name  "  eolithic." 

The  appended  bibliography  is  far  more  complete  than  any  other 
that  has  been  prepared  on  this  subject,  the  number  of  listed  papers 
a-nd  references  reaching  a  total  of  i  54.  The  only  other  serious 
attempt  at  a  bibliography  was  made  by  the  Rev.  R.  Ashington 
Bullen  in  1903,  and  includes  51  titles. 

Argument,  evidence,  demonstration,  are  mental  stimuli,  the 
potency  of  which  varies  with  the  individual.  That  which  serves  to 
convince  one,  may  not  have  the  slightest  effect  on  another.  If  the 
credulous  are  over-sensitive,  the  incredulous  are  certainly  the  oppo- 
site.     In  neither  case  is  the  argument  necessarily  at  fault. 

To  the  minds  incredulous  on  the  subject  of  the  reality  of  an 
eolithic  industry,  my  advice  is  :  Do  as  Capitan,  Klaatsch,  Schwein- 
furth,  and  others,  including  myself,  have  done.  Examine  the  Rutot 
series  in  Brussels,  methodically  collected  and  classified.  Listen  to 
Rutot's  own  story  supplemented  by  demonstration  with  specimens  ; 
then  go  with  him  to  the  field.  No  one  could  be  more  patient, 
more  obhging,  more  helpful.  But  you  would  probably  lose  sight 
of  these  traits,  momentarily  at  least,  through  the  pervasive  enthusi- 
asm of  their  possessor  and  the  force  and  logic  of  the  demonstration. 
One  day  in  the  field  may  suffice.  It  may  require  several.  If  not 
convinced  finally,  you  will  be  the  first  exception  to  the  rule. 

The  subject,  however,  is  not  so  simple  as  might  be  supposed. 
Even  exhaustive  series  of  specimens,  systematically  arranged  and 
carefully  labeled,  are  cold,  dry,  and  lifeless  until  a  living  soul 
breathes  into  them  the  breath  of  life.  Rutot  sent  a  very  instructive 
series  to  the  Louisiana  Purchase  Exposition  at  St  Louis. ^  Un- 
fortunately he  was  not  there  to  interpret  them.  What  impression 
they  made,  even  on  those  accustomed  to  study  stone  artifacts,  re- 
mains to  be  seen.      It  is  a  pleasure  to  be  able  to  record  that,  at  the 

1  A  grand  prize  has  been  awarded  to  the  Brussels  Museum  of  Natural  History  for 
the  Rutot  series.      (See  Amer.  Anthropologist,  1905,  vii,  161,  '<  Classified  Relics.") 


470  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

close  of  the  Exposition,  the  collection  was  sent  as  a  gift  to  Prof. 
F.  \V.  Putnam  of  the  Peabody  Museum,  Harvard  University. 

Only  the  other  day  a  professor  of  anthropology  in  one  of  our 
leading  eastern  universities  asked  me  if  I  was  acquainted  with 
Rutot's  publications  on  the  eolithic  question.  When  answered  in 
the  affirmative,  he  further  inquired,  "  Can  you  make  anything  out 
of  them  ?  I  can't."  I  had  to  confess  that  they  puzzled  me  also  at 
first ;  but  that  having  found  the  key,  every  difficulty  had  suddenly 
disappeared.  "And  the  key?"  "The  key  is  Rutot  himself 
and  his  environment,"  was  my  answer.  "  Know  him,  cover  with 
him  some,  at  least,  of  the  ground  that  he  has  covered,  and  the 
language  he  speaks  will  no  longer  sound  strange  and  unfamiliar." 

It  is  well  and  even  natural  that  archeologists  should  become 
absorbed  in  local  problems.  That  is,  in  fact,  why  Rutot  has  suc- 
ceeded in  accomplishing  so  much.  It  is  also  well  that  workers  in 
one  part  of  the  world  should  know  and  appreciate  what  is  being 
done  in  other  parts.  It  takes  more  than  weavers  to  make  a 
garment.  There  are  also  cutters  and  fitters.  A  like  division  of 
labor  obtains  among  the  prehistoric  archeologists  who  should  know 
the  figure  that  must  be  clothed  before  they  attempt  to  cut  a  garment 
that  will  fit. 

If  in  the  writing  of  this  paper  even  one  of  several  results  is  ac- 
complished, I  shall  feel  justified  in  the  attempt,  and  well  repaid  for 
the  labor  expended.  While  introducing  to  Americans  certain 
European  authorities,  it  may  also  serve  the  role  of  interpreter,  and 
lead  to  a  better  understanding  and  appreciation  of  what  is  being 
done  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic.  Again,  it  may  incite  some 
to  follow  the  advice  given  above  and  to  inv^estigate  for  themselves  a 
problem  the  correct  solution  of  which  cannot  fail  to  add  materially 
to  our  knowledge  of  humankind. 

Yale  University  Museum, 

New  Haven,   Connecticut. 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  4/1 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1867.  Bourgeois,  L  Abbe.  Decouverte  d' instruments  en  silex  dans  le  depot 
a  Elephas  meridionalis  deSaint-Prest  aux  environs  de  Chartres.  C- 
R.  Acad,  (it's  sciences,  Paris,  LXiv,  47. 
Bourgeois,  L  Abbe.  £tude  sur  des  silex  travailles  trouves  dans  les 
depots  tertiaires  de  la  commune  de  Thenay,  pres  Pontlevoy  (Loir-et- 
Cher).     C.-R.  Congr.  inte7'n.  d' antJir.  et.d' arckeoi.  prehs.,  Paris,  p.  67. 

1 871.  RiBEiRO,  Caries.     Descrip^ao  de  alguns  silex  e  quartzites  lascados  en- 

contrados  nas  camadas  dos  terrenos  terciario  e  quaternario,  etc. 
Lisbon,  4°. 

1872.  Bourgeois,    L  Abbe.       Sur   les    silex    considcres    comme    portant   les 

marques  d'un  travail  humain  et  decouverts  dans  le  terrain  miocene  de 
Thenay.  C.-R.  Congr.  intern,  d'anthr.  ct  d' archeoi.  prelis.,  Brux- 
elles,  p.  81. 

Briart,  a..  Cornet,  F.,  ct  Houzeau  de  la  Haie.  Rapport  sur  les 
decouvertes  geologiques  et  archeol.  faites  a  Spiennes  en  1867.  2^  ed., 
Mons. 

Cornet,  F.  L. ,  et  Briart,  A.  L'homme  de  Page  du  mammouth  dans 
la  province  de  Hainaut.  C.-R.  Congr.  intern,  d' anthr.  et  d'arcJieoi. 
prehs.,  Bruxelles,  p.  250. 

Ribeiro,  Carlos.  Sur  des  silex  tallies,  decouverts  dans  les  terrains  mio- 
cene et  pliocene  du  Portugal.     Ibid.,  pp.  95,  100. 

1873.  Mortillet,  G.  DE.    Sur  l'homme  tertiaire.    Buii.  soc.  d' ant/ir.  de  Paris, 

2<^  ser.,  viii,  p.  671. 

1879.  Mortillet,   G.   de.      L'homme  tertiaire  a  1' exposition.     Rev.   d'anthr., 

2e  ser.,  II,  p.  116. 

1880.  Ribeiro,  Carlos.     L'homme  tertiaire  en  Portugal.      C.-R.   Congr.  itt- 

tern.  d' anthr.  et  d' arched,  prehs.,  p.  81  (see  also  pp.  92  and  94). 
Schaafhausex,  H.     L'homme  prehistorique.      Ibid.,  p.  140. 

1881.  Cartailhac,  Emile.     Note  sur  I'archeologie  prehistorique  en  Portugal. 

Bull.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Paris,  3^    ser.,  iv,  p.  281. 
Mortillet,  G.  et  A.  de.     Musee  prehistorique.     Paris,  C.  Reinwald. 

(26  ed.,  1903.      Paris,  Schleicher  Freres). 
Nadaillac,  Marqtiis  de.     Les  premiers  hommes  et  les  temps  prehistor- 

iques  (see  vol.  11  ;  L'  homme  tertiaire).      Paris. 

1883.  Mortillet,  G.  de.     Silex  de  Thenay.     Bull.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Paris, 

3^  ser.,  VI,  p.  852. 
Mortillet,    G.    de.      Le  prehistorique,    premiere  partie.      Paris  :    C. 
Reinwald. 

1884.  Morse,  E.  S.     Man  in  the  tertiaries  (Vice-presidential  address.  Section 

H),  Proc.   Amer.  Assoc.  Adv.  Science,  xxxiii,  p.  579. 


4/2  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

MORTILLET,  G.  DE.      Le  precurseur  de  I'homme.     L' /loiniiie,  i,  p.  545. 
Rames,  J.  B.     Geologic  du  Puy-Courny.     Eclats  de  silex  tortoniens  da 

basin  d'Aurillac  (Cantal).     Mai  p.  r  hist.  prim,  et  nat.  dc  T  Jiomnie, 

3^  sen,  I,  p.  385. 

1885.  Arcelin,  Adrien.     Silex  tertiaires.     Mat.  p.  F hist.  prim,  ct  nat.  de 

r  homme,  3^    ser.,  11,  p.  193. 
Mortillet,  G.   de.     Silex  tertiaires  intentionellement  tallies.      Ibid., 

2  C2. 

QuATREFAGES,  A.  DE.  L'homme  tertiaire.  Thenay  et  les  isles  Anda- 
mans.     Ibid.,  p.  97. 

1886.  Delvaux,  E.      Excursion  de  la  societe  a  Mesvin,  a  Spiennes  et  a  Har- 

mignies,  le  5  Septembre,    1885.     Biill.   Soc.   d' aitthr.   de  Bruxelles, 
IV,  p.  176. 
RuTOT,  A.     Sur  I'age  des  silex  tallies  recueillis  a  Mesvin  pres  de  Mons. 
Ibid.,  p.  134. 

1887.  Broeck,    E.   van  den.      Note  sur  le  quaternaire  moseen.    Bull.    Soc. 

d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  v,  p.  40. 
Delvaux,  E.     Un  mot  au  sujet  des  silex  presentes  par  M.  Rutot  a  la 

seance  du  i'^''  Decembre,  1885.      Ibid.,  p.  24. 
Rutot,  A.      Ouelques  considerations  au  sujet  des  noms  a  donner  aux 

couches  de  la  serie  quaternaire.      Ibid.,  p.  31. 

1888.  Gels,   Alph.      Essai  d'une  classification  des  instruments  quaternaires 

en  silex  et  considerations  preliminaires  sur  1' existence  de  l'homme  a 
I'epoque  tertiaire  dans  les  environs  de  Spiennes.  Bull.  Soc.  d'anthr. 
de  Bruxelles,  vi,  p.  156. 

Delvaux,  £.,  et  Houzeau  de  Lehaie  (rapport).  Sur  I'etat  des  ter- 
rains dans  lesquels  M.  Gels  a  decouvert  des  silex  tallies  par  l'homme 
tertiaire  en  Belgique.      Ibid.,  p.  188. 

Delvaux,  E.  Age  paleolithique.  Premiers  essais  d' utilisation  des 
silex  eclates.     Les  silex  mesviniens.     Ibid.,  p.  333. 

Rutot,  A.  Sur  les  silex  tallies,  pretendument  trouves  dans  le  landen- 
ien  inferieur  aux  environs  de  Mons.      Ibid.,  p.  414. 

1889.  Delgado,   J.   F.   Nery.      Les    silex    tertiaires    d'Otta.      C.-R.    Congr. 

intern,  d'anthr.  et  d' arch,  prehs.,  Paris,  p.  529. 

Mortillet  A.  de.  Silex  tertiaires,  demonstration  de  leur  taille  inten- 
tionelle.      Ibid.,  p.  534. 

MouRLON,  Michel.  Sur  le  gisement  des  silex  tallies  attribues  a 
Thomme  tertiaire,  aux  environs  de  Mons.  Bull,  de  r  Acad.  7'oy.  de 
Belgique,  3^  ser.,  xvii,  p.  499. 
^y  Prestwich,  Sir  Joseph.  On  the  occurrence  of  paleolithic  i^int  imple- 
ments in  the  neighborhood  of  Ightham,  Kent,  their  distribution  and 
probable  age.  (2uar.  Jour.  Geol.  Soc,  XLV,  p.  270. 
i8go.  Gels,  Alph.  Gonsiderations  complementaires  relatives  aux  silex  mes- 
viniens.     Bull.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  viii,  p.  51. 


MACCURDY]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  473 

1891.  Prestwich,  ^S»-J.     On  the  age,  formation  and  successive  drift  stages 

of  the  valley  of  the  Darent,  etc.      (2uar.  Jotir.  Geol.  Soc,  xlvii,   p. 
126. 

1892.  Brown,  J.  Allen.     On  the  continuity  of  the  paleolithic  and  neolithic 

periods.  Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  xxii,  p.  66  (first  use  of  the  term 
"  eolithic  "). 
Prestwich,  Sir  J.  On  the  primitive  characters  of  the  flint  implements 
of  the  chalk  plateau  of  Kent,  with  reference  to  the  question  of  their 
glacial  or  pre-glacial  age  (with  Notes  by  Benj.  Harrison  and  De  Barri 
Crawshay).      Ibid.,  p.  246. 

1893.  Bell,  A.  M.      Remarks  on  the  flint  implements  from  the  Cha'lc  plateau 

of  Kent.     Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  xxiii,   p.  266. 

1894.  Abbott,   W.  J,   Lewis.      Plateau  man  in  Kent.      Nat.  Science.,  iv,  p. 

257. 
Jones,   T.   Rupert.     On  the  geology  of  the   Plateau   implements  of 

Kent.     Ibid.,  v,  p.  269. 
Mortillet,     G.     de.     Classification    palethnologique.       Bull.    Soc. 

d' anthr.   de  Paris,   4^  ser.,   v,   p.   616.      {Sto.  2.\so  Le prehistorique, 

3«  ed. ,  1900,  p.  19.) 
NoETLiNG,  Fritz.     On  the  occurrence  of  chipped  (?)  flints  in  the  Upper 

Miocene  of  Burma.     Records  Geol.  Survey  of  India,   xxvii,   pt.    3, 

p.    lOI. 
Shrubsole,  O.  a.     On  flint  implements  of  a  primitive  type  from  old 

(pre-glacial)  hill-gravels  in  Berkshire.      London  :    Harrison  &  Sons 

{Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  xxiv,  p.  44). 
Smith,  Worthington  G.     Man  the  primeval  savage,  pp.    120,  174. 

London :   Edward  Stanford. 

1895.  Harrison,  Benjamin  {Secretary^.     High-level  flint-drift  of  the  chalk. 

Report  of  a  committee,  British  Assoc.  Report,  p.  349. 
Prestwich,   Sir  ].     The  greater  antiquity  of  man.      The  Alneteetith 

Century,  xxxvii,  p.  617. 
Prestwich,  Sir].     Nature  and  Art.     Geol.  Mag.,  11,  p.  375. 
Prestwich,  Sir  J.     Collected  papers  on  some  controverted  questions 

of  geology.     London  :  Macmillan. 

1896.  Salter,  A.  E.     Pebbly  gravel  from  Goring  Gap  to  the  Norfolk  coast. 

Proc.  Geol.  Assoc,  xiv,  p.  389. 

1897.  Abbott,  W.  J.   Lewis.     Worked  flints  from  the  Cromer  Forest  Bed. 

Ant.  Science,  x,  p.  89. 
Abbott,  \V.  J.   Lewis.     History  of  the  Weald.      Trans.  S.  E.  Union 

Sci.  Soc,  p.  26. 
CuNNiNGTON,  Wm.     The  authenticity  of  plateau  man.     Nat.  Science, 

XI,  p.  327. 
Haynes,  Henry  W.     The  tertiary  man.     Appendix  to  Wright's  Man 

and  the  Glacial  Period.     New  York  :  Appleton. 

AM.  ANTH.,  N.  S.,  ^ — 32 


474-  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

Hutchinson,   Rev.   H.   N.     Prehistoric  man  and  beast,  p.   23.     New 

York :   Appleton. 
Laing,  S.      Human   origins,  sixteenth  thousand,  chap.   xi.      London: 

Chapman  &l  Hall. 
NOETLING,   Fritz.     On   the   discovery  of  chipped    flint-flakes  in  the 

pliocene  of  Burma.     Nat.  Science,  x,  p.  233. 
RuTOT,  A.     Les  origines  du  quaternaire   de  la  Belgique.     Bull.  Soc. 

beige  de geoL,  de paleoiitol.  et  d" hydro!.,  xi,  memoires. 
RuTOT,  A.     Les  conditions  d' existence  de  I'homme  et  les  traces  de  sa 

presence  au  travers  des  temps  quaternaires  et  des  temps  modernes  en 

Belgique.     Bull.  Soc.  d\inihr.  de  Bruxelles,  xvi,  p.  24. 
Thieullen,  Ad.      Les  veritables  instruments   de  I'age  de  la    pierre. 

Paris.      4°. 

1898.  Abbott,  \V.  J.  Lewis.     The  authenticity  of  plateau  implements.      Nat. 

Science,  xii,  p.  iii. 
Bell,  A.  M.     The  tale  of  the  flint.     Longmaiis  Mag.,  xxxi,  p.  214. 
BuLLEN,    Rev.    R.    AsHiNGTON,    and  Abbott,    W.    J.    Lewis.     The 

authenticity  of  plateau  implements.     Nat.  Science,  xii,  p.  106. 
CuNNiNGTON,  Wm.     On  some  paleolithic  implements  from  the  plateau 

gravels,    and  their  evidence    concerning    "  eolithic    man."      Quar. 

Jour.  Geol.  Soc,  liv,  p.  291. 
Frames,  M.  E.     On  some  stone  implements  found  in  a  cave  in  Griqua- 

land-East,  Cape  Colony.     Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  n.  s.,  i,  251. 
^.     Jones,  T.  Rupert.      Exhibition  of  stone  implements  from  Swaziland, 

South  Africa.      Ibid.,  p.  48. 
Kennard,  A.   Santer.     The  authenticity  of  plateau  man  ;  a  reply. 

Nat.  Science,  xii,  p.  27. 
Laville,  a.     Le  gisement  chelleo-mousterien  a  Corbicules  de  Cergy. 

Btill.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Paris,  4^  ser. ,  ix,  p.  56. 
Leith,  G.     On  the  caves,  shell-mounds,  and  stone  implements  of  South 

Africa.     Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  n.  s.,  i,  p.  258. 
March,  H.  C.     The  twin  problems  of  plateau  flint  implements  and  a 

glaciation  south  of   the  Thames.      Proc.   Dorset    Nat.   Hist.   Field 

Club,  XIX,  p.  130. 
RuDLER,  F.  W.      Presidential  address.     Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  n.  s.,  I,  p. 

318. 
Salter,  A.  E.      Pebbly  and  other  gravels  in  southern  England.     Proc. 
Geol.  Assoc,  xv,  p.  264. 

1899.  Bird,  C.      Plateau  implements.     South  Rochester  Naturalist,  \\,^.  ^dt^. 
Harrison,  B.      Plateau  implements.     Trans.  S.  E.  Union  Sci.  Soc,  p. 

12. 
Lomas,  Joseph.     On  some  flint  implements  found  in  the  glacial  depos- 
its of  Cheshire  and  North  Wales.    Proc.  Liverpool  Geol.  Soc,  viii,  p. 
334- 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITH IC  PROBLEM  47 S 


PuvDT.  Marcel  de.  Notes  et  constatations  relatives  a  des  gisements  de 
silex  tallies  decouverts  sur  la  territoire  des  communes  de  Haine-Saint- 
Pien-e,  Ressaix,  fepinois,  etc.,  canton  de  r>inche,  province  de  Hai- 
naut  (Belgique).  Bu//.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Bruxdles,  xvii,  p.  98  (see 
also  Bull,  etnihn.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  xix,  mem.  no.  i). 

RUTOT,  A.  Sur  I'age  des  gisements  de  silex  tailles  decouverts  sur  las 
territoires  des  communes  de  Haine-Saint-Pierre,  Ressaix,  fepinois, 
etc.,  canton  de  Binche,  province  de  Hainaut  (Belgique).      Ibid.,  p. 


1900, 


ZM. 


RuTOT,  A.     Sur  le  creusement  de  la  vallee  de   la  Lys.      Bull.   Soc. 
beige  de  geol.,  de  paleontol.  et  d' hydroL,  xiii,  p.  94- 

RuTOT,  A.  Comparison  du  quaternaire  de  Belgique  au  glaciaire  de 
r Europe  centrale.     Ibid.,  p.  307. 

A\-EBURY,  Lord.      Prehistoric  times,  6th  ed.     (Barely  mentioned.) 

BULLEX,  Rev.  R.  ASHINGTON.  Eolithic  implements.  Traits.  Victoria 
Institute,  June  i8th. 

BuLLEN,  Rev.  R.  ASHINGTON.  The  Prestwich  collection  of  flint  imple- 
ments.    Science  Gossip,  n.  s.,  vi,  p,  379. 

MORTILLET,  Gabriel  et  Adrien  de.  Le  prehistorique.  3«  ed.  (see 
introduction  and  part  i).      Paris  :  Schleicher  Freres. 

MuxcK,  t.  de.  Sur  une  serie  de  silex  recueilHs  dans  le  landenien  re- 
mani6  inferieur  aux  depots  a  silex  mesviniens,  acheuleens  et  mouster- 
iens  de  Saint-Symphorien.  Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Brux- 
elles, XIX,  p.  Ixxviii. 

RuTOT,  A.     Ouelques  considerations  sur  les  conclusions  stratigraphiques 
a  tir6r  de  ^presence  de  1' Industrie  humaine  dans  les  graviers  quater- 
naires.     Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geol. ,  de  paleon.  et  d '  hydrol. ,  xiv. 
RuTOT,  A.     Sur  quelques  observations  faites  dans  les  carrieres  de  Soi- 

gnies.     Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  xviii.  p.  cxxix. 
RuTOT,   A.     Sur  la  decouverte  de  nombreux    instruments  d' Industrie 
reutelo-mesvinienne  dans  les  carrieres  de  Maffles  (pros  d'  Ath).     Ibid. , 

p.  cxxx. 

RuTOT,  A.  Les  industries  paleolithiques  primitives.  Note  sur  la 
decouverte  d'importants  gisements  de  silex  tailles  dans  les  collines  de 
la  Flandre  occidental.  Comparaison  de  ces  silex  avec  ceux  du 
Chalk-Plateau  du  Kent.      Ibid.,  mem.  no.  i. 

RuTOT,  A.  Materiaux  pour  I" etude  du  quaternaire  et  des  industries 
paleolithiques.   Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geol.,  de  paleontol.  etd' hydrol,  xiv. 

RuTOT,  A.  Sur  I'aire  de  dispersion  actuellement  connue  des  peuplades 
paleoHthiques  en  Belgique.  Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Brux- 
elles, XIX,  p.  xlvii. 

RUTOT,  A.     Sur  I'homme  prequaternaire.     Ibid.,  xix,  mem.  no.  111. 

Rutot',  a.  Sur  la  distribution  des  industries  paleolithiques  dans  les 
couches  quaternaires  de  la  Belgique.  C.-R.  Congr.  intern,  d'anthr. 
et  d'archkol.  prehs.,  Paris,  Douzieme  session,  p.  79- 


'\1 


476  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

RuTOT,  A.  Note  sur  la  position  stratigraphique  de  la  Corbicula  flumi- 
nalis  dans  les  couches  quaternaires  du  bassin  anglo-franco-belge. 
Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geoL,  de  paleon.  et  d' hydrol.,  xiv  (memoires). 

RuTOT,   A.     Expose  sommaire  des  resultats  d' excursions  entreprises 
dans  les  ballastieres  des  environs  de  Paris.     Ibid.,  p.  324. 
igoi.  BuLLEN,   Rev.   R.  Ashington.     Eolithic    implements.     Jotif.   Victoria 
Inst.,  XXXIII,  p.  191. 

Capitan,  L.  L'homme  quaternaire  dans  le  bassin  du  Rhone.  (D'apres 
le  livre  d'  Ernest  Chantre.)  Revue  de  V Ecole  d^ anthr.  de  Paris, 
XI,  p.  398. 

Chantre,  Ernest.  L'homme  quaternaire  dans  la  vallee  du  Rhone. 
Etude  geologique  et  anthropologique.  An7i.  de  T  iniiversite  de  Lyon, 
Nouvelle  ser.,  i,  fasc.  4. 

Darbyshire,   R.    B.     On  the   implements   from    the   Chalk   plateau. 
Mem.  afid  Proc.  Manchester  Lit.  aiid  Philos.  Soc,  xlvi,  pt.  i. 
^  4         HowoRTH,  Sir  H.  H.     The  earliest  traces  of  man.      GeoL  Mag.,  dec. 

^  iv,  VIII,  p.  337. 

Hull,  E.     Eolithic  implements.     Jour.   Victoria  Inst.,  xxxiii,  p.  414. 

Laville,  a.  Coupe  de  la  carriere  de  Saint-Prest,  silex  tallies.  Bull, 
et  mem.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Paris,  5^  ser.,  11,  p.  285. 

Mahoudeau,  p.  H.,  et  Capitan,  L.  La  question  de  l'homme  tertiaire 
a  Thenay.     Rev.  de  T Ecole  d' anthr.  de  Paris,  xi. 

MuNCK,  Emile  de.  Le  quaternaire  des  plaines  du  Hainaut.  L  An- 
thropologic, XII,  p.  135. 

Puydt,  Marcel  de.  Au  sujet  de  poignards  de  Page  de  la  pierre  et 
de  quelque  silex  tallies  trouves  a  Epinois,  Canton  de  Binche  (Hainaut). 
Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  xix,  mem.  no.  i. 

PuYDT,  Marcel  de.  Sur  quelques  decouvertes  de  silex  tallies  et  obser- 
vations au  sujet  de  pieces  presentees  trouvees  a  Epinois,  Engis, 
Genck,  Eysden,  Asch,  etc.      Ibid.,  mem.  no.  ii. 

RuTOT,  A.  Sur  une  preuve  de  1' existence  de  l'homme  sur  la  crete  de 
I'Artois  avant  la  fin  du  pliocene.  Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geoL,  de  paleo?i. 
et  d' hydrol.,  xv,  p.  29. 

RuTOT,  A.  Sur  la  formation  des  champs  ou  tapis  de  silex  ayant  fourni 
aux  populations  paleolithiques  primitives  la  matiere  premiere  des  in- 
struments et  outils  constituant  leurs  industries.     Ibid.,  p.  62. 

RuTOT,  A.  Sur  la  position  du  chelleen  dans  la  chronologie  paleolithique. 
Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  xix,  p.  clix. 

Willett,  E.     On  a  collection  of  paleohthic  implements  from  Saver- 
nake.     Jour.  Anthr.  Inst.,  n.  s.,  iv,  p.  310. 
1902.  BuLLEN,  Rev.  R.   Ashington.     Eolithic   implements,  their  use   and 
meaning.     Proc.  Holinesdale  Nat.  Hist.   Club,  p.  18. 

Harrison,  E.  R.  Eolithic  flint  instruments.  South-eastern  Naturalist, 
p.  16. 


maccurdy] 


THE  EOLITH IC  PROBLEM  477 


Laville,  H.  Rcponse  a  M.  Rutot  sur  son  etude  geologique  et  anthro- 
pologique  du  gisement  de  Cergy.  Bull,  et  inhn.  Soc.  d' anthr.  de 
Paris,  S"-"  ser.,  in,  p.  742. 
Read,  Chas.  H.  A  guide  to  the  antiquities  of  the  Stone  age  in  the 
department  of  British  and  medicxval  antiquities  (British  Museum. 
Printed  by  order  of  the  trustees),  pp.  10,  25-28. 
Reid,  C.     The  geology  of  the  country  round  Ringwood.     Mem.  Geol. 

Surv.,  p.  33. 
Rutot,  A.      Les  industries  primitives.      Defense  des  eolithes.     Les  ac- 
tions naturelles  possibles  sont  inaptes  a  produire  des  effets  semblables 
a  la  retouche  intentionelle.     Bull,  ct  mem.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles, 
XX,  mem.  no.  iii. 
Rutot,   A.     f:tude   geologique    et   anthropologique   du    gisement   de 

Cergy  (Seine-et-Oise).     Ibid.,  mem.  no.  iv. 
Rutot,  A.     Sur  les  relations  existant  entre  les  calloutis  quaternaires  et 
les  couches  entre  lesquelles  ils  sont  compris.     Bull.  Soc.  beige  de 
geol.,  de paleontol.  et  d' hydrol.,  xvi,  p.  16. 
Warren,  S.  H.     On  the  value   of  mineral   condition  in   determining 
the  relative   age  of  stone  implements.      Geol.  Mag.,   n.  s.,  dec.  iv, 
IX,  p.  97. 
Thieullen,  Ad.      Le  prechelleen  Belgique.      Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.  d'an- 
thr. de  Paris,  5^  ser.,  iii,  p.  756. 
1903.  Bennett,   F.    J.     Eolithic   implements   at   Belfast   and   Bloomsbury. 
Geol.  Mag.,  n.  s.,  dec.  iv,  x,  p.  127. 
Bracht,  Eugen.      Bericht  iiber  eine  Reise  nach  den  Fundstellen  der 
"Eolithen"  in  West  Flandern  vom  29  Mai  bis  9  Juni,  1903.   Zeit. 
f.  EthnoL,  xxxv,  p.  823. 
BuLLEN,   Rev.    R.   AsHiNGTON.     Eoliths   from  south    and   south-west 

England.      Geol.  Mag.,  n.  s.,  dec.  iv,  x,  p.  102. 
Cels,  Alphonse.     Considerations  retrospectives  a  I'homme  tertiaire  de 
Spiennes.     Bull,  et  mem.  Soc.   d'anthr.   de  Bruxelles,   xxii,   mem. 
no.  iv. 
CouRTY,  G.     Sur  les  silex   tertiaires   du  Puy-Courny.     Bull,  et  mem. 

Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Paris,  y  ser.,  iv,  p.  12. 
Hahne,  — .      Diluviale  silexe  aus  der  Borde  bei  Magdeburg.     Zeit.  f. 

EthnoL,  xxxv,  p.  494. 
Jaekel,  O.     Feuerstein-Eolithe  von  Freyenstein  in  der  Mark.      Ibid., 

p.  830. 
Klaatsch,    H.     Anthropologische  und  palaolitische  Ergebnisse  emer 
Studienreise  durch    Deutschland,  Belgien    and  Frankreich.      Ibid., 

pp.  92,  487- 
Klaatsch,   H.     Bericht  uber  einen  anthropologischen  Streifzug  nach 

London  und  auf  das  Plateau  von  Sud-England.     Ibid.,  p.  875. 

Klaatsch,  H.     Das  Problem   der  primitiven  Silex  artefacte.      Corr.- 


4/8  AMERICAN  ANTHROPOLOGIST  [n.  s.,  7,  1905 

Blatt  d.  deutschen  Ges.  f.  AntJir.,  Ethnol.  u.   Urgeschichte,  xxxiv, 

pp.  102,  136. 
Krause,  Eduard.     Bericht  liber  die  Konferenz  zur  genaueren  Priifung 

der  in  der  Sitzung  vom  21    Milrs   d.  J.  vorgeleten  Feuersteinfunde. 

Zeit.  f.  Et/mol.,  xxxv,  p.  537. 
RuTOT,    A.      Les    cailloux    de    M.    Thieullen.       Bull,    et   mem.    Soc. 

d' anlhr.  de  Brtcxelles,  xxi,  mem.  no.  iii. 
RuTOT,  A.     Esquisse  d'  une  comparaison  des  couches  pliocenes  et  quater- 

naires  de  la  Belgique  avec  celles   du  sud-est  de  I'Angleterre.      Bull. 

Soc.  beige  de  oeol.,  de palcontol.  et  d  hydrol.,  xvii,  p.  57. 
RuTOT,   A.      L'etat  actuel  de  la  question  de  I'antiquite  de  Thomme. 

Ibid.,  p.  425. 
RuTOT,  A.      Le  prehistorique  dans  1' Europe  centrale.      Coup  d'oeil  sur 

l'etat  des  connaissances  relatives  aux  industries  de  la  pierre  a  1' ex- 
clusion du  neolithique  en  1903.      C.-R.  Congr.  d'  arc  heal,  ct  d'  hist. 

Dinant. 
RuTOT,  A.     Note  preliminaire  sur  les  nouvelles  decouvertes  faites  aux 

environs  de  Ressaix,   pres  Binche  (Belgique).     Bull  et   mhn.   Soc. 

danthr.  de  Bruxclles,  xxii. 
RuTOT,  A.    Sur  les  gisements  paleolithiques  de  loess  eolien  de  1'  Autriche- 

Hongrie.     Ibid.,  mem.  no.  vii. 
RuTOT,  A.     Compte  rendu  des  excursions  de  la  session  extraordinaire 

de  la  Soc.  beige  de  geol.,  de  paleon.  et  d'hydrol.  dans  le  Hainaut  et 

aux  environs  de  Bruxelles.     Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geol. ,  de  paleontol.  et 

d'hydrol.,  xvii,  p.  383. 
ScHWEiNFURTH,     G.       Steinzeitliche     Forschungen     in    Oberagypten. 

Zeit.  f.  Ethnol.,  xxxv,  p.  798. 

1904.  Ballet,  Dr.     Decouverte  de  silex  tallies  pliocenes  a  Saint-Hilaire  en 

Lignieres  (Cher).     Bull.  Soc.  preh.  de  France,  i,  p.  21. 
LisSAUER,  A.      Die  Sammlung  der  "  tertiiir-silex  "  des  Hrn.  Klaatsch. 

Zeit.  fur  Ethnol.,  xxxvi,  p.  299. 
Olshausen,  Otto.     Uber  einen  Ausflug  nach  Dr.  Hahnes  diluvialen 

Fundstiltten  bei  Schonebeck  a  E.      Ibid.,  p.  477. 
RuTOT,   A.      Essai  d' evaluation  de  la  duree  des  temps  quaternaires. 

Bull.  Soc.  beige  de  geologic,  de  paleontol.  et  d' hydrol.,  xvili,  p.   13. 
RuTOT,  A.     Sur  la  cause  de  I'eclatement  naturel  du  silex.      Bull,   et 

mem.  Soc.  d'anthr.  de  Bruxelles,  xxin. 
RuTOT,    A.      A  propos   du  squelette  humain   de  Galley-Hill    (Kent). 

Ibid. 
ScHWEiNFURTH,  G.     Steinzeitliche  Forschungen  in  Oberagypten.     Zeit. 

f.  Ethnol.,  XXXVI,  p.  766. 
WiXDLE,    Bertram,  C.  A.     Remains  of  the  prehistoric  age  in  Eng- 
land, p.  40.     London  :  Methuen  &  Co. 

1905.  Blackenhorn,  D.  Max.     Uber  die  Steinzeit  und  die  Feuersteinarte- 

facte  in  Syrien-Palastina.     Zeit.  f.  Ethnol.,  xxxvii,  p.  447. 


MAcccRDv]  THE  EOLITHIC  PROBLEM  479 

Capitan,    L.       foude   anthropologique  et  aicheologique  de  I'Egypte. 

Revue  de  V  Ecole  iT  anthropologic  de  Paris,  xv,  p.  24. 
Capitan,  L.      L' Homme,  le  Mammouth  et  le  Rhinoceros  a  I'epoqiie 

quaternaire  dans   Paris,   sur  1' emplacement  de   la  rue   de  Rennes. 

Ibid.,  p.  66. 
Deecke,  W.     Zur  Eolithenfrage  auf  Riigen  und  Bornholm.      Corres- 

pondens-Blatt  d.  DeutscheH  Ges  f.  Anthr.,  Eihnol.  und  Urgeschichte, 

XXXVI,  p.  26. 
DoiGNEAU,  A.     Notes  d'archeologie  prehistorique.     Nos  ancetres  primi- 

tifs.    Paris  :  Librarie  C.  Clavreuil. 
Engerand,   Georges.     Six  lecjons  de  prehistoire.      Bruxelles,  \'eu\e 

Ferd.  Larcier. 
Favreau,  Paul.     Neue  Funde  aus  dem  Diluvium  in  der  Umgegend 

von  Neuhaldensleben,  insbesondere  der  Kiesgrube  am  Schlosspark 

von  Hundisburg.     Zeit.  f.  Eihnol. ,  xxxvii,  p.  275. 


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